Are You Game?

Earlier this year, as Black Panther reigned supreme at the box office, a low-budget comedy broke $100 million as quietly as can be done. Game Night is the story of a group of friends who find themselves out of their depth -- the scenario they mistake for actors staging a game for their entertainment turns out to be real criminals threatening their lives.

The cast makes this movie, and it is a great cast. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams star as Max and Annie, the hyper-competitive hosts of the group's regular games. Max's swaggering brother is played by Kyle Chandler. Jesse Clemons is the profoundly creepy next-door neighbor trying to cope with his recent divorce. The ensemble is filled out with Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, and Kylie Bunbury.

Of the group, Clemons is really the only one adopting a "character," by typical comedy film standards. It's a tongue-in-cheek, quiet and intense performance that's inherently funny for being such a weird gear change from everything else. But that's not to say the rest of the cast isn't funny. It's just that the filmmakers opted for realistic characters to populate their ridiculous situation. You get a good mix of people mainly known for comedy (like Bateman), people not really known for comedy (Chandler), and people who haven't done comedy in a long time, but who are really great at it (McAdams).

The result is some enjoyable silliness. There's actually a commitment to telling a real story here with twists and turns, and character arcs that see everyone grow and change over the course of the story. As such, it's not wall to wall laughs. But it's all part of a smart "peaks and valleys" approach to the comedy here. If there aren't many smiles for a few minutes, don't worry -- soon will come a sequence that is (as they say) laugh out loud funny.

Beyond that, I think the less said about the movie, the better. There are some surprising and fun actors that pop up in smaller roles, but it's better to be surprised by them. There are some sequences that I could highlight as especially funny, mostly of a physical nature, but that would just be giving away the best moments like a bad trailer.

So instead, I'll just say that I was pleasantly surprised by this fun little diversion. I'd give Game Night a B. Love of games not required (though if you're here, you very likely do). Love of comedy will be rewarded.