I’ve watched more movies than almost anyone I know, and I find that most of my friends haven’t seen nearly as many of the good ones as I have. Because of that, I’ll now be gracing you all with my cinematic wisdom on a weekly basis. You’re welcome.
Week 1 Selection: Game Night (2018) directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein
I’ve mentioned before that I will watch absolutely anything with Rachel McAdams in it, but at this point, the same is true for Jason Bateman. I don’t know when the last time was that he was in something and I didn’t like it. On top of those two powerhouses, you’ve got Jesse Plemons (Todd from Breaking Bad/albino Matt Damon), Lamorne Morris (Winston from New Girl), and Billy Magnussen (young Paulie Walnuts in the upcoming prequel movie to The Sopranos). If the cast alone isn’t enough to draw you into the movie, you probably fucking suck, but I’ll talk a little bit more about it in order to convince you. And to reach my minimum word count.
The basic premise of the movie is this: Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) are huge fans of games, and they hold weekly game nights with their friends. Oh yeah… you get the title of the movie now? Anyway, they do this every week, and when Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler… Eric Taylor from Friday Night Lights) comes to town, the group ends up going to a murder mystery game night at his house. Shit hits the fan, though, because Brooks ends up being actually kidnapped. In an effort to not spoil the rest of the movie, I’ll stop the plot description there.
Game Night holds a special place in my heart because was the first R-rated movie I saw in theaters without either sneaking in or having one of my parents with me. Besides that, though, it is genuinely one of the most underrated movies of the past five years. It’s absolutely hilarious, but it’s also got all the great elements of a thriller, which is a fucking awesome combination. And at an hour-forty run time, you won’t have to dedicate your entire afternoon to watching the movie. The only thing I find wrong with this movie at all is that Rachel McAdams stays completely clothed the entire time, but that’s an issue in every movie she’s in, so I guess I can’t fault it too much.
