Comedy is a genre built on laughs, obviously, but it can’t just have jokes. A comedy film must still be a film, with work put into areas aside from jokes, because if the jokes fall flat at least there is a story or visual enjoyment to be had.
Recently, most mainstream comedies (“The House,” “We’re the Millers,” “Tammy,” “Snatched,” “Hot Pursuit,” “Daddy’s Home 2”) seem to have forgotten how to make a genuinely enjoyable comedy.
However, in what may very well be the surprise of the year, the directors, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, of the abysmal “Vacation” reboot in 2015 and the writer, Mark Perez, of “The Country Bears” and “Herbie Fully Loaded” have brought an unexpected gem to the big screen in the form of “Game Night.”
Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams play an overcompetitive married couple and their chemistry goes beyond just working well together into sheer adorability. McAdams especially deserves credit as she manages to keep her doting wife character from ever becoming a clichéd mess.
The entire cast is excellent, and no one feels wasted. From Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury as a loving but bickering married couple, to Billy Magnussen as the idiot friend, everyone feels like they have a legitimate place in the story.
The film’s stand out though is Jesse Plemons, most well-known for his role in Breaking Bad as Todd. His creepy next door neighbor is never insulted or made fun of, but he still manages to be amusingly creepy in just the right ways, leaving an impression of weird warmth on the audience.
Spoilers will be avoided in this review, which is an unexpected thing to have to say for a film that bills itself as a broad comedy. “Game Night” has a surprising amount of twists, and takes its story seriously, despite it still being fairly predictable.
However, it’s in the smaller moments between each of the film’s three couples where narrative takes hold. Screenwriter Mark Perez gives each couple legitimate arcs, and while they may not all play into the film’s overarching plot, they’re still funny and well written enough to be enjoyable.
Even with its darkness, “Game Night” also manages to avoid being mean-spirited. So many comedies nowadays simply resort to insult comedy for their entire film, and the fact that “Game Night” has characters that legitimately care about each other makes it stand out from the typical Hollywood fair.
This, coupled with the movie’s dark humor gives everything a sort of wholesome crudeness, where things are said and done due to the situations being dire, not the people being jerks.
What Daley and Goldstein have created here is a spoof of film’s like David Fincher’s “The Game.” However, they go beyond parodying it in a storytelling sense, by using camera tricks and legitimate filmmaking techniques to bring the bizarre nature of this story to life.
Overhead shots of scenes are lit and angled to look like pieces of a diorama or a board game, the camera will often hold focus on cars and people allowing for visually engaging shots, and there’s even a simple shot of a locked door being forced open that feels right out of an HBO thriller. One scene midway through the film even uses an unbroken take in a way that’s just downright clever.
Even the musical score, from composer Cliff Martinez (“Drive,” “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”) feels as though its being created for a legitimate thriller film, and adds to the film’s atmosphere. It gives the feeling that, despite being a spoof, the filmmakers realized that putting effort into the filmmaking would make everything funnier and more engaging.
That’s the biggest takeaway from this film. As opposed to most Hollywood comedies that seem to be filmed on a back lot with as little money as possible to maximize profits, “Game Night” feels as though legitimate effort and budget went into its production. It feels like an obvious thing to point out, but it helps to sell the film even more.
Daley and Goldstein have brought what is, in story, a basic screwball comedy, where things are elevated to their extremes and must be solved by “average” people. However, due to the sheer amount of effort put into the film; in its characters, dialogue, cinematography, and atmosphere, it manages to feel incredibly satisfying in the end.
For once, a Hollywood comedy has come along that is just pure, guilt free fun. No conceits need to be made for poor acting, writing, or anything. “Game Night” isn’t anything remarkably new, but because of the filmmaker’s efforts, it manages to be a night worth rolling the dice on.
4/5
Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Aggregate Films, and Davis Entertainment.
