One of the most challenging genres of film to tackle is the comedy. As getting an audience to laugh takes genuine creativity, the keen insight of any given subject matter, and careful timing. Comedy legends such as the late George Carlin and Robin Williams were masters of the craft. Sadly, comedy films as of late have been, bluntly put, not very funny. Instead of real smart comedies like Meet the Parents or Easy A, the comedy genre as of late has been flooded with tedious and dull toilet humor slogs like The Emoji Movie and whatever Eddie Murphy has lined up next to try and save his career. It's almost rare to see a genuinely well-crafted comedy film from Hollywood these days. So when I say that Game Night is a hilarious and remarkably made comedy, I mean precisely that. No joke.
The story follows Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) as a married couple who host weekly game nights with their circle of friends. One day Max's older brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) shows up out of the blue offers to host a game night. Except instead of classic games like charades or Parchisi, Brooks has signed up the gang for a kind of live-action role-playing murder mystery game. In which one of the players will be "kidnapped" and the others have to solve riddles and clues to find him. It's supposed to be a fun, interactive experience involving actors and staged events made to feel relatively real. However, on the night of the game, Brooks gets kidnapped for real by some mysterious thugs. Now, under the impression that its part of the game, the whole group is on the hunt to find Brooks unaware of the real danger they're in. From then on, it's a hilarious adventure to rescue Brooks and solve the real mystery.
This kind of joke has actually been done before in a Bill Murry film titled The Man Who Knew Too Little. Except I find that Game Night handles this joke significantly better because, unlike the Bill Murry film, this movie doesn't have characters who are total idiots. The characters in Game Night are likable, intelligent, and played with a surprising level of nuance. Bateman and McAdams, who arguably carry the movie, have great chemistry and play off each other very well. The supporting cast is equally well rounded and offer some clever jokes here and there. Though, most of the best jokes are handled by the two leads.
The humor in this film is terrific. What makes it so good is how it handles occasional gross-out moments. Unlike most other modern comedies that appear to be under the delusion that gross equals funny, Game Night approaches the edge without going over it. There's a scene when the two leads are trying to extract a bullet from a gunshot wound, and it is, arguably, the funniest scene in the movie. I can't really explain why without spoiling anything, but please trust me when I say that it is probably the most tasteful version of this kind of joke I have seen in a long time.
Now, even though this movie does a lot of things right, there are still some things about it I personally didn't really appreciate. A few of the jokes did go a little overboard, and there are aspects of the films conclusion I didn't really enjoy. Even so, these are just bits of nitpicking that don't really stain the overall experience.
Game Night is so far the funniest thing I have seen this year. It's smart, enjoyable, a little silly, and I laughed the whole time. If you need something to put you in a better mood, this is undoubtedly the best move.
Is this movie worth seeing?
Yes.
Is it worth seeing in theaters?
Yes.
Why?
It's a hell of a fun ride that reminds you how to do comedy right. Mostly.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you for reading.
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