Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 2 ratings
Max and Annie's weekly game night gets kicked up a notch when Max's brother Brooks arranges a murder mystery party -- complete with fake thugs and federal agents. So when Brooks gets kidnapped, it's all supposed to be part of the game. As the competitors set out to solve the case, they start to learn that neither the game nor Brooks are what they seem to be. The friends soon find themselves in over their heads as each twist leads to another unexpected turn over the course of one chaotic night.
Game Night is a genuinely clever high-concept comedy that punches above its weight, particularly in its cinematography — directors Daley and Goldstein use tilt-shift photography and miniature-style compositions to make the suburban setting look like a literal board game, which is a genuinely inventive visual choice. The ensemble cast is solid and game (pun intended), with Bateman and McAdams having real chemistry and Jesse Plemons stealing scenes as the creepy neighbor. The plot is a fun, twisty romp that keeps the energy high, though it leans heavily on escalating-chaos mechanics familiar from similar comedies. Novelty sits in the middle — the board-game visual conceit and meta-awareness of genre tropes give it a distinct personality, but the bones are a recognizable 'ordinary people in over their heads' formula. The ending deflates somewhat, wrapping up the frenetic chaos in a fairly conventional and tidy way that doesn't fully match the inventiveness of the film's peak moments.