I have more than a little residual affection for a movie that many of you might have missed during its theatrical run — the 2018 comedy “Game Night,” co-directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and my appreciation for the film isn’t because of its fantastic cast (led by Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams) or the entertainingly goofy premise (in which a group of friends’ game night features a staged kidnapping that turns real). I actually saw this movie — which just became available on Netflix — on the big screen back during its initial theatrical run, at a cinema in Miami. It was one of those fancy, amenity-laden movie palaces where the seats were almost like couches and they bring you blankets; seriously, watching a film there was like cozying up at a friend’s place. An overall fantastic night out at the movies. But I digress.
Why I have a soft spot for movies like “Game Night” mostly has to do with just how few middle-tier comedies like it seem to get made anymore in Hollywood. Everything is either a quirky arthouse title or big-budget epic these days, with little room for the just-for-fun comedies of my younger years that viewers don’t seem to want to be bothered with anymore (Exhibit A: The box office underperformance of Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut “Good Fortune,” which has grossed maybe a little more than half of its $30 million product budget, depending on what estimate you’re looking at).
Game Night: A crowd-pleasing comedy done right
As for what it’s about, the central conceit of “Game Night” involves a group of friends who get together regularly to play board games and trivia. One night, the host’s brother plays a part in an elaborate, mystery-style game night — but it quickly turns real when he gets himself actually, literally, kidnapped, as opposed to having merely set up a fake one. The group doesn’t realize the danger at first, thinking it’s all part of the fun. As the friends try to solve clues and rescue him, they get swept into a messy yet funny crime situation.
At the time, audiences reacted to the movie favorably — but, again, keep in mind that this was back when moviegoers were still showing up for such films. “Game Night” earned a worldwide box office of more than $117 million against a budget of some $37 million, and it also received strong scores from both critics as well as viewers on Rotten Tomatoes (85% and 78%, respectively). No wonder, as of this writing, it’s currently the #9 movie on Netflix in the U.S., where if you ask me it definitely deserves to be seen by as many fans of feature-film comedy as possible.
