There are many important films that I think Daily Kos should have reviews for. I hope someone on this site goes see Mary Queen of Scots and writes a review here (I might have to wait for the DVD).
I have drafted a review of First Reformed, perhaps the most important limited release movie this year, which I will proofread and publish tomorrow.
Sometimes though, you just want a movie that is nice, simple, frivolous fun. I think Game Night fits that bill.
There is certainly some social commentary in this movie, if you care to extract and dissect it, but the movie is not trying to beat you over the head with how “woke” it is (not that it’s any more “woke” than basic political correctness requires).
★★★★☆
The first few minutes of Game Night clearly establish that Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) met and fell in love because of bar trivia.
Now married, Max and Annie have a nice, comfortable life together, and they often host game nights at their house.
The biggest problem in their life is perhaps their apparent sterility: they have not had their first child yet, and it hasn’t been for lack of trying.
Then their second biggest problem is keeping their creepy neighbor Gary (Jesse Plemons) out of their game night. Gary is a cop, and he will do almost anything to get invited back to game night, including the misuse of police resources.
Max and Annie invite two couples to their game night: Ryan (Billy Magnussen) and Sarah (Sharon Horgan), and Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury). The former are just dating, the latter might get married.
And then Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) shows up. Their relationship is not strained, but there’s a little bit of tension: Brooks is seemingly the more successful sibling.
So now here he is, driving a classic red car, and promising the ultimate game night, a crime mystery so realistic the participants will have to remind themselves it’s all just a game. The prize: the car, of course.
The next week, Max and Annie go to Brooks’s mansion, along with their usual friends, without Gary. They tell Gary a barely plausible lie. Gary has no clue, right?
Brooks certainly has a nice house. The thugs show up, actually beat up and kidnap Brooks. The game night participants praise the realism of the acting, even as they begin to suspect that maybe the whole thing has gone off the rails.
And indeed the whole thing has gone off the rails. Before sunrise, both Max and Brooks will be in serious need of medical attention after being involved in a cloak and dagger intrigue.
Game Night runs 100 minutes. It is rated R for language, sexual references and some violence. The parental guide on IMDB fails to mention the fleeting reference to Donald Trump.
I think it’s important that this movie shows a main character getting shot in a gun accident and suffering a life-threatening injury.
It’s not a spoiler to tell you Max doesn’t die in this movie, but it would have been entirely plausible if he had died after bleeding out from a gunshot wound.
We could make a big fuss about what kinds of people the token black couple are. To me they seem to be about as fleshed out as the white couples, and that’s something black actors rightfully expect from scripts.
Though a fear of “miscegenation” manifests itself in that Michelle’s one-night stand had to be with a black celebrity, an actor frequently confused for Denzel Washington.
Even if only seen in a discreet flashback, an “interracial” one-night stand might have prompted the MPAA to give this movie an NC-17 rating. I’m exaggerating, but not by much.
It would be fun to discuss the scene with the private jet and the car with Neil de Grasse Tyson. Ultimately, though, Game Night is just a nice, fun movie to enjoy with popcorn.
Since this is an action comedy, it would have been appropriate to include a blooper reel on the DVD, but there isn't one (maybe the BluRay has it). The DVD does include a very short “making of” featurette.