Fun & maimed A
A suburban couple’s night of Jenga and charades takes a violent turn in delightfully dark comedy
FRIENDLY trivia game can turn ugly fast. Beer is chugged, insults are hurled and tears are shed — but nobody ever dies. Not so in “Game Night,” a riotous dark comedy in which a cute suburban get-together becomes a lethal nightmare. The pals playing along include Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams), a husband and wife addicted to games. The cutthroat couple first met at a bar trivia night, and for their wedding dance, they hoofed about on a couple of “Dance Dance Revolution” pads.
When it comes to the game of life, however, they place dead last. The lovebirds are having difficulty conceiving, and Max feels emasculated by his hotshot brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler).
So, he is set on edge when — guess who? — Brooks shows up and decides to host a game night of his own, even upping the ante with a spicy murder-mystery theme, in which guests have to hunt down each clue and solve the fake crime.
That’s when the trouble begins. Real thugs barge in and kidnap Brooks. Totally unaware that the operation isn’t part of the fun, the teams keep playing like it’s just a silly game.
“Game Night” doesn’t have a monopoly on the formula in which suburbanites get soused and have a run-in with dangerous criminals on an innocent night out. “Date Night” (2010) and 2017’s “Fun Mom Dinner” went the same route. But those were sorry excuses for comedies.
Co-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein win here by tossing the genre’s hallmarks — overly broad performances, dumb gags and “Looney Tunes”-level violence — into the reject pile. The jokes are witty, the risk is real and there’s at least one thrilling plot twist.
The pace is swift, too. A fantastic chase sequence finds the group running through a minimansion, trying to wrestle an expensive object away from some crooks. The camera cleverly follows along as they play hot potato with the item, and evil henchmen fall like dominoes.
All of the actors’ dry performances are ripped straight from the cul-desac. One couple (played by Kylie Bunbury and Lamorne Morris) have a funny ongoing sexual hang-up. But numero uno is Jesse Plemons as a recently divorced cop who deeply resents not being invited to game night. Plemons is a master at playing grade-A creeps, as he did on the latest season of “Black Mirror.” But his comedic timing and awkward quirks here are as weird as it gets.
That excellent performance, sharp direction and a smart script make “Game Night” a worthwhile comedy, and not just another trivial pursuit.
GAME NIGHT Neverboard. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R (language, sexual references, some violence). Now playing.