Review of Game Night (2018) by Kj P — 05 Mar 2018

Good comedies are extremely hard to come by these days. For every great one, there seem to be roughly 20 terrible ones. That's not a great track record to have, but in all fairness, the great ones feel like such a breath of fresh air when they hit theatres and are talked about positively in the public eye. So, I think you can see where I'm going with this. Game Night is one of the best comedies I've seen in quite some time. It doesn't break new grounds in terms of humor, but when a movie can hold your interest and keep you engaged even when there's no comedy in a specific moment, it's doing something right. It's rare for me to say this, but I think you'll be hard-pressed to assume that you'll see a better mainstream comedy in the coming months of 2018. If you're looking for an entertaining ride at the movies, here's why I think you should check out Game Night.

Following a group of friends who gather together for a night of board games and charades once a week, they're in a state of shock when an old friend and brother of one of them shows up to play. Giving them an invitation to his place to continue their tradition elsewhere, a murder mystery night turns into a night of twists on top of twists. Are people actually being murdered? Are the double-crossers really double-crossing? These are questions that constantly come up throughout this movie and that's precisely what made it such a good movie as a whole. I loved the fact that it didn't try to come up with stupid jokes as filler.

The comedy in Game Night is terrific and very well-written. I found myself laughing both at the humor itself and how writer Mark Perez was able to callback certain moments and extend jokes to make them even funnier as the film progressed. On top of that, this movie is filled with twists on top of twists. Some of them are played for gags and others for either drama or character development. Quite honestly, this is a film that I didn't expect to be as well-written as it was, due to his previous works. Having written movies like Accepted and Herbie Fully Loaded, I was worried that many of the jokes were going to feel juvenile or fall flat on their face, but I was dead wrong. Just goes to show that you can't even truly judge a movie by its trailer anymore, no matter how good or bad it looks.

I can't believe I'm going to say this about a silly premise like this, but not only does this movie have a great script in terms of comedy and drama, but this is a unique film from a visual standpoint. Whether they make the town look like a board game or use the camera as a character, Game Night is a very well-shot movie. The way this movie transitions from scene to scene or how it makes you feel like you're watching/playing an elaborate game yourself was very inventive.

In the end, I honestly can't think of any glaring issues, other than the fact that many cliched tropes are used in order to make certain plot devices easy to accomplish. Yes, there are a few easy ways out that are taken here, which can definitely lead to some eye-rolling moments from audiences, but that's to be expected for a comedy like this. From the fun premise to the well-executed story overall, and the addition of hilarious gags and surprisingly emotional moments, Game Night is a complete blast. This is the definition of popcorn entertainment that really works. Even though it's not perfect, it's perfect for what it sets out to accomplish, which is to keep its audience engaged.