Game Night (John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, 2018)

[domino harvey]

Game Night is garnering unexpectedly effusive reviews across the board. When's even the last time a mainstream comedy was critically well liked and funny?

[movielocke]

Girls trip?

[Big Ben]

That would be Girl's Trip from last year as movielocke mentioned. I was quite surprised myself. Annihilation, the new Natalie Portman Sci-Fi venture is also getting raves.

[DarkImbecile]

Don’t forget the reviews Black Panther has gotten. Everyone knows mid-February is when the studios release all their best films.

[mfunk9786]

Game Night (John Francis Daley; Jonathan Goldstein) - As advertised, this is better than your average plot-heavy R-rated comedy; Jason Bateman hits the right ratio of insecurity/superiority (which isn’t always the case lately), and Rachel McAdams reaffirms and builds upon the hardcore crush I’ve had on her since Red Eye with a deeply charming turn as an overcompetitive type-A pixie dream girl. The film balances a somewhat darker tone without ever feeling mean, and features some fun staging and cinematography (in particular the use of Social Network-style diorama effect shots for scene transitions, making the characters look like pieces on a game board). Nothing that belongs in a time capsule, but won’t make you feel cheated either.

Game Night is a great comic take on The Game with an absolutely dynamite lead performance by Rachel McAdams.

You guys are making potential thread splits much harder by combining takes on films like this!

As for something that likely isn’t going to garner too much more discussion here at the end of the day, Game Night was a delightfully acted film with some questionable decisions and gigantic plot holes that took a back seat to the sheer quantity and quality of jokes and game character roles (Jesse Plemons is incredibly funny in this film). Particularly in the third act, the screenplay was so timid about what viewers might think about the way it might end that it feels like the plot is an increasingly fraying rope that is hanging on for dear life. That doesn’t make the jokes and mostly earned gags any less hilarious - one of the funnier studio comedies in years.

Also worth noting: Rachel McAdams is about to be 40 years old so I suppose Hollywood time isn’t on her side but I still wonder why she isn’t the biggest star on the planet.

[DarkImbecile]

You guys are making potential thread splits much harder by combining takes on films like this!

In my defense, I will bet you as much as one whole dollar that thread splits for Den of Thieves and The Commuter will never be necessary. I also thought one post covering five movies was less irritating than five posts covering one movie each in this thread, but I can do it either way the next time I make it to multiple bad to mediocre releases in the same week.

[thirtyframesasecond]

McAdams has had a pretty decent career since Mean Girls. She doesn't appear in too much crud and her career seems to be doing as well as it was in the mid-00s. Certainly by Means Girls' standards (though Lacey Chabert seems to be in every Christmas Hallmark TV movie).

[Ribs]

In my defense, I will bet you as much as one whole dollar that thread splits [...] The Commuter will never be necessary.

I cannot tolerate this slander.

(If anything, a Collet-Serra thread would make more sense, but the rabid cult of personality growing around his cinema hasn't quite spread here - yet)

Anyway, as I said in the other thread, McAdams here is just absolutely on fire, every single thing she does lands, and it's probably going to be one of my favorite performances of the decade when all's said and done. It's also thrilling to see Kyle Chandler lighten up a bit, particularly in the early sequences where he's just absurdly excellent at the party games.

Oh, and another thing: It's a very strange decision to have the film start with an extreme close-up on Jason Bateman's face, and then reveal that's happening 5 years *before* the rest of the movie. Just seems to exaggerate the age difference between McAdams and him even further!

[swo17]

Just realized this was co-directed by the kid from Freaks and Geeks.

[tenia]

Just realized this was co-directed by the kid from Freaks and Geeks.

He also co-wrote Spiderman Homecoming (which surprised me because I watched for the first time in a long time Freaks and Geeks just a few weeks before watching Homecoming and had no idea he became a writer).

[thirtyframesasecond]

Wow I didn't realise Sam Weir moved onto bigger things (I don't watch Bones).

[Luke M]

He’s also briefly in the movie.

I thought this was pretty funny. I typically avoid comedies because I don’t always connect them and the time/money investment seems to rarely pay off. This arrangement has been exasperated by the explosion of social media where a single tweet can drive me to tears.

But I thought this was worth seeing in a theater with a fun crowd.

[McCrutchy]

Wow, I might have gone to see this if Black Panther hadn't obliterated everything else in the month of February. I mean, I thought Peter Rabbit was a box office bomb, and here I learn it's made almost $100 million as of today.

The trouble is, now Game Night will be on the tiny-ass 90-odd seat screens of the AMC multiplex, which are about as thrilling as a well-authored Blu-ray in the home theater. I guess the cancellation of Fist Fight and The House last year probably scuppered any chances this has of coming to UHD BD, but I guess I'll get the Blu-ray regardless, though hopefully, a UHD BD does happen.

[Fiery Angel]

Also worth noting: Rachel McAdams is about to be 40 years old so I suppose Hollywood time isn’t on her side but I still wonder why she isn’t the biggest star on the planet.

I've wondered about that for years.

[JeremyHr]

Also worth noting: Rachel McAdams is about to be 40 years old so I suppose Hollywood time isn’t on her side but I still wonder why she isn’t the biggest star on the planet.

I've wondered about that for years.

I think it's due to the reason she is alike with Rachel Weisz and she grabs all attention.
About the film: it is an unexpectedly great work. Even for the friends who scribble smashing reviews on film websites.

[mfunk9786]

I think it's due to the reason she is alike with Rachel Weisz and she grabs all attention.

.................because they're both named Rachel?

[mfunk9786]

I think it's due to the reason she is alike with Rachel Weisz and she grabs all attention.

It goes deeper than any of us could have predicted...

[Fiery Angel]

And Rachel M. just had a baby, so that means that Rachel W. is having twins?

[domino harvey]

This was just wonderful, every bit as good as I hoped it would be from all the positive word of mouth. Good running gags, smart self-aware jokes--

SpoilerShow

the gag in the finale with Rachel McAdams lampshading the very deliberate avoidance of mortal violence throughout the film when the henchman gets sucked up into the airplane engine is just a perfect movie-long set up and payoff, it belongs in a museum--

charming performances from everyone-- especially Jesse Plemons, who has the funniest line of the movie early on in a great play on product placement, and Rachel McAdams, who indeed has never been more charming-- and most importantly, a real visual style wholly unexpected from a comedy like this. The showy stylistic excesses work in congress with the narrative and the jokes, not as a distraction from them. More visual wit is on display here than any non-arthouse film since the last Mission: Impossible sequel.

A great comedy and proof that the masses will show up for a good film if you give them one and market it right. One of the best films of the year, and the best mainstream comedy I can remember since... I literally have no idea, mainstream comedies rarely make me laugh, so... ever?

And everyone, Amazon has this on absurdly low sale right now for just $10, 75% off retail-- these are Black Friday prices for a movie that just came out on Blu-ray. You will get your $10 worth of entertainment out of this and then some, go for it!

[cdnchris]

Agreed, this was pretty great. Constantly funny throughout and the chemistry between everyone (but mostly between McAdams and Bateman) was incredible: everyone just plays off of each other brilliantly.

As to domino's spoiler

SpoilerShow

McAdams' "oh sorry!" like reaction was great.

Once the plot started to reach its conclusion and everything started wrapping up it felt like the film was going to lose momentum and then start to go serious but impressively it was able to keep the rhythm and humour going. Frankly I'm stunned the guys (one of whom is the kid from Freaks and Geeks) behind the Vacation remake/sequel(?) were behind this. That one was absolutely dire so I'm just stunned at the skill that went into this. It also looks really good but not at the expense of the jokes.

Edit: And I loved the meet-cute opening, which I noticed had me grinning ear to ear.

[swo17]

SpoilerShow

I also liked the preceding line where the guy called her out about having kids at home. And the game where they were trying to guess Ed Norton.

[tenia]

The reviews I read about the movie lead me to expect a relatively OK-ish movie but expected the light tone to make up for it, and that's pretty much what happened for me, with an overall good feeling about the movie. It certainly is no comic masterpiece, and it stumbles more than once in terms of tone balance. I found the movie to be often quite "serious" with some sections not delivering many laughs for some time (I guess that's the usual issue for comedy with an investigation background). However, as a whole, and especially since the movie is quite short, it goes by in a breeze with a cast that seems to have an absolute blast. I knew Plemons was in it but the way he plays his character is amongst the best weirdest stuff of the movie, though McAdams' gag in the finale probably is the most memorable moment. What I didn't know though was that Kyle Chandler was also in it, which made for a small surprise "FNL" reunion. It's unfortunate his character isn't very interesting and lacks a surprising twist. Billy Magnussen however feels right out It's always sunny in Philly with its more stupid than stupid character.

As a whole, it's thus quite fun and relatively well paced. I'm not jumping over the roof about it though. Probably a good 6.5-7 out of 10.

[domino harvey]

Between this, Ingrid Goes West, and Damsels in Distress, I think Magnussen's brand is playing dummies. I thought he was funny here, though, and the credits reveal is another good subtle gag

If there was any justice in this world, Plemons would be remembered at the end of the year with an Oscar nom

[flyonthewall2983]

Dug this one a lot. Big-budget comedies this inventive are seemingly rare but quite welcome. Kyle Chandler playing against type was more effective than I expected.

This premiered last night on HBO, in widescreen.

[domino harvey]

Kyle Chandler is an untapped natural resource in films. He has a good agent who keeps getting him parts in big films, but everyone seems afraid to cast him as anything but variations on Coach Taylor. He's great in a film that uses that against him though as the deadbeat dad in the Spectacular Now