There’s no question the undisputed winner in the new comedy “Game Night” is the generally dependable Rachel McAdams. The infectious energetic and unfiltered exuberance she brings to the role of the super competitive Annie — one of a group of best friends who get together on a regular basis to play parlor and board games — turns what was little more than an extended episode of a television comedy series into more of a winning effort.
Annie and her husband, Max (Jason Bateman), have had a monopoly on the weekly game night battles that range from charades to Scrabble.
Creating a disruption is Max’s more successful, better-looking, richer, smarter and more popular brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler). The pair have been competitive since they were young, with Brooks way ahead in the scoring. On a rare visit to town, Brooks takes advantage of the control he has over his brother to get game night shifted to his house, where he changes all the rules. Brooks has put in play a kidnapping mystery where the first one to find him will win a fabulous prize.
There’s just one catch. Before the fake kidnapping can get started, Brooks is grabbed by real thugs, and the only way to save him is for the players to break multiple laws and risk their lives. And they have to do it all by midnight.
The first part of “Game Night” has some fun moments, especially because of McAdams. There’s no doubt Annie is the kind of person who doesn’t take losing lightly and when she’s forced into real life criminal acts, she gets a rush from the excitement. That’s a good balance for Bateman, as he’s always tends to play the guy who quietly calculates the odds before doing anything. She’s a person of action, while he’s more inclined toward reaction.
The biggest blunder by Perez is going with the same kind of thinking that has been used in countless TV shows and films where average people are suddenly forced to do extraordinary things — and they do it. A complete rejection of even the most basic of logical thinking must be done or the film falls apart in the first act.
Perez should have done more to incorporate the skills the friends have cultivated in all of their game nights. There’s a touch of charades, but there needed to be far more inclusion of the tactics of playing the board and parlor games used to solve the real crime.
Overall, the direction by John Francis Daley (“Vacation”) and Jonathan M. Goldstein (“Vacation”) is pedestrian except for the computer graphics used to make many of the locations look like game boards. That element provides a spark but never ignites anything else original.
When a script begins to unravel, it falls on the actors to take up the slack. McAdams gives it her best shot, and she gets some help from Chandler. It’s great to see Chandler getting the chance to do some comedy, though his time is more limited than the other players’. He still manages to make Brooks an interesting character.
“Game Night” is like playing Monopoly where the only properties are the four railroads. The players can go through the motions, but without more elements the overall result is good but far from as great as it could have been.
MOVIE REVIEW
“Game Night”
Grade: C+
Starring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler and Jesse Plemons. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein.
Rated R for action scenes, sexual references, language. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 40 minutes.
Bottom line: Rather pedestrian effort of a light comedy
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