The competition may get a little out of hand in the film ‘Game Night’
A night of games and fun gets a little out of hand in the film “Game Night,” starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams.
Max (Bateman, “Arrested Development” and “Identity Thief”) and his wife Annie (McAdams, “The Notebook” and “The Vow”) have weekly couple game nights, but this time it gets kicked up a notch when Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler, “Friday Night Lights” and “Manchester by the Sea”) arranges a murder mystery party, complete with fake thugs and faux federal agents.
So when Brooks gets kidnapped, it’s all part of the game, right? But as the six uber-competitive gamers set out to solve the case and win, they begin to discover that neither this game — nor Brooks — are what they seem to be.
Over the course of one chaotic night, the friends find themselves increasingly in over their heads as each twist leads to another unexpected turn. With no rules, no points and no idea who all the players are, this could turn out to be the most fun they’ve ever had…or game over.
Other characters include: Sarah (Sharon Horgan, “Catastrophe” and “Pulling”), Ryan (Billy Magnussen, “Into the Woods” and “The Big Short”), Kevin (Lamorne Morris, “New Girl” and “Barber Shop”), Michelle (Kylie Bunbury, “Pitch” and “Under the Dome”) and Gary (Jesse Plemons, “Battleship” and “Black Mass”).
The film is co-directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein and is rated R for language, sexual references and some violence.
On rottentomatoes.com, the film has garnered an 82 percent, certified fresh, rating and an audience score of 82 percent also.
A majority of critics found the film “fresh” rather than “rotten.”
“‘Game Night’ is a blast, a sharp adult comedy that earns genuine laughs without going lowbrow or diving into raunchy humor,” said Top Critic Adam Graham with the Detroit News.
Top Critic Richard Roeper with the Chicago Sun Times, agreed, saying, “The ‘Game Night’ co-directors deliver a stylish and good-looking movie.”
On the rotten side, Top Critic Richard Brody with the New Yorker said, “The movie is a hollow throwback to classic comedy, and it shines only by contrast with dull studio competition.”
According to the IMDb website, prior to filming, the cast members had their own “game night” so they could get to know one another and prepare for the film. They played Clue and Joking Hazard.
This is the second film Bateman and McAdams have starred in together. The first was “State of Play” in 2009.
Other films released to DVD, Blu-Ray and other home theater outlets include:
n “Early Man,” starring Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams and Timothy Spall, and directed by Nick Park, is a stop-motion animated comedy set in prehistoric times where a tribe of primitive hunters clash with the emissaries of a distant empire that has mastered bronze-making. In time, they decide to settle their differences via a game of soccer.
This film is rated PG.
n “Hollow in the Land,” starring Dianna Agron, Jared Abrahamson, Rachelle Lefevre and Sarah Dugdale, and directed by Scooter Corkle, is a crime thriller where a young factory worker must support herself and her troubled brother while their father is in prison for murder. But when her brother vanishes after he is also accused of killing someone, she must prove his innocence.
This film is not rated.
n “The Lost Tree,” starring Thomas Ian Nicholas, Lacey Chabert, Scott Grimes and Clare Kramer, and directed by Brian Metcalf, follows a widower who rents a remote cabin in the hopes of working through his grief. Upon arriving, he finds a tree that seems haunted by dark forces and soon begins receiving messages from his dead wife in this eerie supernatural horror film.
This film is not rated.