Watched: May 27, 2019

Kegger Rating: 3 Stars

MM Rating: 3 stars

Kegger’s Review:

I didn’t have huge hopes for this particular movie – after all, there haven’t been a lot of good, mid-range style movies lately.  Most of the hype has been around the big movies: Avengers, Incredibles, Oceans 8, etc.  So it’s been hard to focus on the ones that aren’t block busters or remakes. 

I talked MM into watching this movie, mainly because I thought it had the possibility of being similar to Game Night.  And mostly, I was right.  It’s a feel good movie, and the fact that it’s based on a true story made that even better.  I loved the fact that they covered up the identity of the fifth player, and that the actor was someone well known.  The action was fun and interesting, and the way they played the strategy of the game really made it work. 

So why am I only giving it 3 stars instead of the 4 I gave Game Night?  It went too far with a joke. 

Perhaps it’s because I’m a little sensitive about a particular topic.  That’s very much a possibility.  But I really feel like they could have made the point in a different way.

That being said, I did enjoy the rest of the movie, and would recommend it for those nights when you really just want to relax and veg in front of a TV, not needing to think too hard or look for the meaning or message of the thing.  Solid movie. 

MM

I thought this movie was going to suck. I thought it was a stupid idea with actors I didn’t necessarily love, and I was totally wrong.

In the opening scene, we see a guy clearly taking this thing too seriously. And we see him about to ruin an important business meeting for his friend, and you think, “Here we go, awkward humor.” Instead, his friend takes it just as seriously, completely foregoing his real world business responsibility, and that sets the tone for us.

The first two acts are fun, fast paced, and set up the story well. Some jokes don’t work, but many do. You end up caring about the actors and what they want. The antagonist is played well, and they do well to overplay him and not take things too seriously.

Things don’t go as well in the third act. The extent the antagonist is willing to go to win is far more disturbing than humorous, and we’re introduced to a dark reason that everyone is meant to come together. This is where the movie went from being something in our steady rotation to an Also Ran.

I didn’t need any darkness in a fun comedy. I didn’t need a reason or a message. I was just looking for fun. At the end of the movie, you’re left with very little fun, and a lot of ill omen. If you were to compare this movie to The Hangover, which I really enjoyed, the first two acts would be similar. The third act of the Hangover, though, would’ve transported them to the third act of Hangover 3, and ain’t nobody want that.