By Emilio Frenk.
Directors: John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
Cast: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons, Jeffrey Wright, Danny Huston, Michael c. Hall and Kyle Chandler.
Rating: Very Good.
Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who made “Vacation” in 2015 bring “Game Night”, a comedy that brings very fun and entertaining results.
The movie centers in Max (Jason Bateman) and his wife Annie (Rachel McAdams) who happen to be competitive gamers and love to win.
One night they invite a regular group of friends who they constantly play with and suddenly Max´s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) shows up with a very unconventional game that involves a mystery.
In that time Brooks is kidnapped and now both Max and Annie with their friends have to find all the clues that reveal this mystery that will lead to a potential murder. Now all of them are in a race against time to win this and also to prevent that someone close to them looses their lives.
“Game Night” is a movie that not only I define it as a comedy but a very original one with a different style that we have seen but not in this level.
Both John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein learned from “Vacation” what they did wrong in that movie and created here a very funny and original film.
The screenplay written by Mark Perez is very clever, with amazing characters and the humor that he manages in this film is unique and this movie is that at all levels.
I felt in the film there was a lot of influence on movies like “Horrible Bosses”, “Clue” and some in “A Fish Called Wanda” due to the humor that all this movies have and Perez blend them in one to create a very fun film.
The chemistry between Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams works at all levels and both of them are hilarious in this movie. Kyle Chandler is very good as well and so as Jesse Plemons who plays the creepy neighbor and cop of Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams´s characters.
I was very skeptical at first when I saw this movie in the previews back last year but I decided to give the benefit of doubt and I was very surprised.
This film has one of the most original and smart twists I have seen in the genre and it took me by surprise.
There are things that I think they could have been avoided like being to repetive in some of the jokes of the film but I understand why it had to be there. At the same time as an audience we get it and just with one time that it was mentioned was enough. Still the movie works and I never laughed so hard in a long time like I did with “Game Night”.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein knew how to take the best out of their cast and used all those tools at their disposal properly.
This by far is a movie that is going to be remembered in a while and it´s the best example for aspiring or experienced comedy writers to use as a model.
“Game Night” is one of the best comedies I´ve seen in a while, I highly recommend it and you are not going to regret seeing this film.