That’s because Game Night is a comedy encased in the shell of a thriller, from the tense musical score by Cliff Martinez to the off-kilter compositions by directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (who also highlight the movie’s surreal vibe with establishing shots that make cars and buildings initially resemble pieces on a game board). The cast is engaged and doesn’t spend a lot of time going off on riffs when there’s a decent little script — by Mark Perez, with some reworking by the directors — to follow along like a nice, clear instruction booklet inside a board game. Not included in the rounds of Pictionary and Trivial Pursuits is next-door neighbor Gary (Jesse Plemons), a cop who never seems to wear anything but his uniform and has been reduced to terse monotone responses after being left by his wife. The wild card this particular week, however, is Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler), a fast-talking, globe-trotting rogue who Max has severe competition issues with. Brooks invites the whole gang to his swanky temporary townhouse for what he promises will be the game of a lifetime, in which a fake kidnapping will take place; little do any of them, including Brooks, know that the kidnapping is all too real, setting the rest of the group on a game that could cost more than their pride. The way the lines blur between real life and simulated play is one of the themes that the screenplay touches on as it zips from situation to situation, keeping the crew on the move and occasionally splitting them up when necessary for maximum tension — again, just like a thriller. Other, more familiar ideas about how well we know our partners and even our siblings are present as well, giving everyone a few nice character bits and running jokes to play (the best of these being a gag about Bunbury’s one-time-only celebrity hookup that Morris is desperately trying to guess). Bateman is his usual prickly self, with a bit more sweetness to the character than usual, while McAdams gets to display her excellent comedic chops and timing as the somewhat dizzier Annie (it’s nice to see the actress go full-on funny after a lot of her more earnest recent work). Chandler and the rest of the players all turn in good work as well, but the MVP is Plemons, whose absolute stillness at first seems like it’s truly holding back some sort of psychopathic rage but ends up revealing a rather more vulnerable and wounded person inside. Even with the fine cast, however, the key creatives here have to be Goldstein and Daley. I was among the few who liked their Vacation reboot (perhaps because I had no particular investment in the original) and thought that exhibited a more disciplined approach toward comedy on film. Game Night proves that the directors are not content to make a movie that feels slapped-together. The movie is no game-changer (sorry), and won’t stay with you for very long after you see it, but it’s a more than passable way to spend an evening — just like the title activity itself.
title: “Game Night Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-18” author: “Michael Turner”
The film opens with his character Max meeting Annie (Rachel McAdams) at a pub quiz, where they match wits over Tinky Winky from Teletubbies. It’s love at first sight, and their matching competitive streak makes them formidable hosts of a regular game night for their friends. Regrettably, Max’s sibling rivalry with his more successful brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) is stressing him out, to the point where it’s affecting his attempts to start a family with Annie. So when Brooks comes to town and offers to host game night for Max and Annie and their friends – married couple Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury) plus Ryan (Billy Magnussen) and his date Sarah (Sharon Horgan) – they’re ready for a win. Unfortunately, Brooks’ plan for a kidnap-themed scavenger hunt is waylaid by actual kidnappers, who invade his home and beat him up in front of his oblivious friends. In trying to get Brooks back, the competitors blunder into a very real criminal conspiracy with only their trivia knowledge and competitive natures to keep them going. The film is directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who were two of the writers of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and are currently the frontrunners to direct DC’s Flashpoint. On the strength of Game Night, that’s something that comics fans should definitely be interested in – this is a fast, funny, high concept comedy with an enjoyable dark streak, sensationally directed and performed from top to bottom. There are gorgeous establishing shots throughout, using seamless CGI long shots to give certain settings the appearance of a game board or an illustration from a table-top game before panning in and matching to a crane shot. In the action itself, it feels like we move with the players, as in a car chase that cheekily echoes the camera controls of driving games. We don’t want to spoil the highlight of the film’s visual style in advance, but you’ll know it when you see it, as it makes use of a technique that directors usually use to show off, but it’s all in service of the comedy and it’s equally jaw-dropping and hilarious. On top of that, it follows Key and Peele’s Keanu, a film which applied Michael Mann tropes to a comedy about retrieving a cute kitten, in giving the stakes of the crime movie the appropriate weight within the story. That’s backed up with a real thriller score by none other than Cliff Martinez, who usually composes for the likes of Steven Soderbergh and Nicolas Winding Refn. But at the same time, Daley and Goldstein and writer Mark Perez are self-aware enough to know that we’re here to see a comedy, so Martinez ends up scoring scenes like an especially tense game of Jenga and the film gets both how cool and how funny that makes it. But what makes this soar is the strong character work from early on, which is never sold out for an easy laugh later. The comedy comes naturally from the characters’ natures, and the performers play it to a tee. Bateman is in his element as this kind of stressed out leading man, but he has better material this time, while Morris reveals a reliable knack for buttoning scenes, delivering punchlines better than just about anyone in the cast. Only Horgan feels a little marooned here, unfortunately entering the film slightly later than the other characters and then not really getting as much to do. Elsewhere, Jesse Plemons, Chelsea Peretti and Jeffrey Wright all show up in enjoyable side-quests around the ensemble, and when the eventual arch-criminals show up, they’re played by exactly the kind of actors who could credibly play those characters in more straight-faced thrillers. But the real revelation here is Rachel McAdams, who simply hasn’t had the chance to be this funny since Mean Girls. She should have risen to the A-list a long time ago and Annie’s boundless energy and enthusiasm in the face of spiralling stakes make McAdams a highlight. Action comedies often go off the rails in their third act as the stakes intensify and the plot twists come thick and fast, and it almost goes the same way here. Crucially, the film survives it by never losing sight of the central conceit of the geeky characters. It’s the rare film that remembers to keep telling jokes while keeping the stakes up, and in that regard, it benefits hugely from feeling written rather than improvised by its stars. Game Night is in UK cinemas from March 2nd.
