WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Max and Annie’s weekly game night gets kicked up a notch when Max’s brother Brooks arranges a murder mystery party — complete with fake thugs and federal agents. So when Brooks gets kidnapped, it’s all supposed to be part of the game. As the competitors set out to solve the case, they learn that neither the game nor Brooks is what they seem to be. The friends soon find themselves in over their heads as each twist leads to another unexpected turn throughout one chaotic night.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
So it’s a movie about adults regularly having fun with other adults via board games, etc. It sounds like a simple enough premise, but to my surprise, it works out. We start by meeting our main couple along with a brief history of their relationship. We find out how competitive they are once the other couples play. Things get out of hand when Brooks (Kyle Chandler) introduces a new dynamic to game night: a murder mystery. The winner gets his car, a Corvette Stingray. This is where the lines of real and fake get crossed. Throughout the film, our couples are looking for clues to find the player who has been abducted. The obstacles brought before them are so outrageous that they must be a part of the game, even when Jason Bateman’s character, Max, gets (accidentally) shot. When I saw this in the trailer, I thought it was so funny. The actual movie will probably flop. How wrong I was. Seeing Max get shot was hilarious, and I still didn’t know if it was real or part of the murder mystery game they were playing. Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury play Kevin and Michelle, a couple with more issues to worry about than playing the game. Ryan (Billy Magnussen) and his new date, Sarah (Sharon Horgan), spend most of their time learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses. He’s the dim-witted jock type, and she’s the older, intelligent, English-speaking, “thinks she knows it all” girlfriend. No one’s talent is wasted, and all three couples had some big scenes that helped make this movie much better than any other “game” movie. So many things could not have been done if this movie had been less than an R rating. The gun scenes, most of the car chases, and especially the scene where the guy holding a gun is sucked up into a plane’s engine. As gruesome as that sounds, Annie (Rachel McAdams) made it extremely funny seeing it happen. The rest of the film is just as funny as the trailer implies, and if they can make a sequel, I would definitely watch it.
OUR RATING – A ROLL OF THE DICE 8
MEDIA
- Genre – Comedy
- Street Date
- Digital – May 4th 2018
- DVD/Blu-Ray – May 22nd 2018
- Video – 1080p
- Screen Size – 2.40:1
- Sound – English, French, Spanish
- Subtitles – English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Extras
- An Unforgettable Evening: Making Game Night
- Gag Reel