Watched: February 10, 2019
Kegger Rating: 4 Star
MM Rating: 4 Star
Kegger’s Review:
I actually really enjoyed this movie!
Sure, Jason Bateman played himself. And there were the typical character actors that you’d expect in a movie like this – dumb guy, obsessive guy, outsider, etc. Still, knowing what I was going to get didn’t dim the fun! Rachel McAdams killed it, and the overall concept was playful as well.
The scene transitions were awesome, too. I’m not going to give them away, though.
The plot of the movie was interesting, and the initial twists were determined through the trailers (an annoyance of mine). But overall, it was a romp of a film. Very much on the same line as Hangover, which I loved.
The only problem I had, which really accounts for the last star, is that the underlying tension between Bateman’s Max and McAdams’ Annie was strained. Forced, even. It bothered me, because we’d end up focusing back on that subject, and it’d pull me out of the movie.
To be honest, it was unnecessary. The fun of having Max’s brother change Game Night up was enough, really. The rest of the characters were fun secondarily as well.
All in all, a nice, thrilling comedy!
MM’s Review:
Game Night gets off to a slow start, but it delivers its jokes really well.
The setup of the characters feels like it takes a long time, but I don’t think it was more than 20 minutes. Once we’re off and going, the premise is amusing, and it adds some excitement to the comedy.
Rachel McAdams does a great job with her role, and Jason Bateman plays Jason Bateman, but he plays him well. There wasn’t a ton of chemistry between them, but it worked well enough. The other couples seem well suited to each other, and the creepy guy is definitely creepy.
The jokes are good, but they don’t always flow. The pacing gets disjointed moving between exciting segments and pensive ones. We saw the movie a second time before writing our reviews, and I think it was funnier that time around. Knowing what’s coming helped with the odd pacing, and the jokes were still funny.
The main characters have an emotional hurdle that felt forced, and its payoff was both predictable and weak. The hurdle of the secondary characters, though, was fantastic and had a great payoff.
I definitely see us going back to this comedy.