When I watched the trailer it seemed like a good comedy. When I googled it, it was described as a thriller. Then watching it there was comedy, horror, thriller, crime and action all thrown in. What is this movie? 

Game Night is a story of a group of friends who play games at each other’s houses. The main character Max’s brother comes back, a man who has always overshadowed him, and says he has a new game, a kidnapping where the winner who finds him first will win a car. But then it all goes wrong and Brooks is actually kidnapped (while for most of the movie the friends do not realise) and they must find him, save him, and hopefully get him out of the terrible mess he has landed himself into. It’s a fun movie, definitely something I’d be interested in doing in real life too (the fake kidnapping, not the real one) and for the most part was pretty relatable. 

But, there’s always a but.

But, this movie was very try-hard. The jokes it told were obvious and not very funny, a small giggle was heard in the cinema but that was about it. The references to make it seem up to date and fresh already felt pretty outdated and the whole thing was a bit of a shambles. It’d reel you in with excitement then bore you to a slow finish.

The worst part about this movie however was all the twists. There were at least two and they were not good. The first one was fun. It was kind of obvious but was still a nice moment but when the second came along it felt forced, as if the producers said ‘no this is how it’s going, not like that, bring it back around’. It was definitely not needed and if it had just stayed with the first twist it would’ve fit the lightheartedness of the whole thing.

The characters were good. The main two Max and Annie were very enjoyable to watch and seemed like any other normal couple. The rest were very cliche and almost like stock characters but they weren’t the important ones. Then there was Brooks he was alright. A bit Stillone-y in my opinion. Very rugged and hard but with a comedic twist to him. I enjoyed watching the characters and their escapades I just didn’t like the action story they tried to keep adding into it. I didn’t care for the bad guys and the black market, I cared for the characters and we didn’t get to connect with them as much as I would’ve liked. 

This movie is definitely one that I would describe as ‘put it on when your friends are round but don’t mind not watching too intently’. It’s pretty easy to drop in and out and kind of understand what’s happening so doesn’t need your full attention.

I think this could’ve been a great movie especially with the camera angles making the whole world look like a game, the dynamic of the group, and the things they go through. I just feel it didn’t really know what it was, and wanted to be something it wasn’t. Stick to being a scavenger hunt comedy, not a Die Hard action film. Then I would’ve enjoyed it more.

What did you think of Game Night?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding