A guilty pleasure kind of film

Film review: Game Night

MANILA, Philippines — Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the writing team that gifted us with Horrible Bosses, but now working with a Mark Perez screenplay, Game Night is a high-concept screwball comedy that operates as a murder mystery. It’s a guilty pleasure kind of film with no pretensions of being anything serious, zany babaw at times, but consistently hitting the right comedic notes.

Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) are a super-competitive couple who take Game Night to new levels, whether it be Charades, Pictionary, Monopoly or what have you. Along with a diverse bunch of friends, they get together once a week to compete, bond and have fun. The fly in the ointment would be Max’s brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler), as a sorrier case of sibling rivalry would be hard to find. It’s when Brooks stages a Game Night to end all Game Nights that the murder mystery/thriller elements rear their collective heads, creating unbridled chaos and ludicrous, but hilarious, sets of circumstance.

What truly works with the film is the casting and fine ensemble acting. Bateman is rock solid as always but McAdams is the pleasant surprise, both charming and funny throughout. Jesse Plemons as Gary is the scene stealer here, never given an actual funny line to utter, but hilarious whenever he shows up. And there’s Billy Magnussen as the male “dumb blonde” — I noticed him first in Ingrid Goes West as the strange brother of Elizabeth Olsen’s character — and he more than fulfills the promise he showed there, in the film outing.

The set pieces are wonderfully written, none funnier than the props used when Annie has to extract a bullet from Max’s elbow. Also keep your laughter in check, as a specialty of the film is to throw out a punchline, and follow that up with an even funnier line. Game Night is a hilarious way to spend two hours; and I’m hoping to hear more from writer Mark Perez.