3 Short Paragraphs: Game Night

2018, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein (Vacation) -- download

Yes, I generally reserve this tag for the movies I have no feelings for, one way or the other. Why did I watch it? Mainly because of the involvement of John Francis Daley, who most know primarily as a guy on Freaks and Geeks but I know as one of the nice guys they killed on Bones. And because I generally like everything Jason Bateman has been doing since his reemergence. Well, except for Arrested Development which is just not something I can get in on.

So, a group of friends have a regular game night, something the three couples have been doing for years. You would think, in this age of table top gaming (go Google Wil Wheaton's TableTop) where board gaming cafes and YouTube review shows give you a fuck load more than Charades and Scrabble, which is where this movie goes. But the real intent was that Max's (Bateman) brother gets them mixed up in a murder mystery live action game, that turns out to be far too real. The board games were just a gimmick to get the plot going.

The fishes out of water second and third acts are fun if pretty run of the mill, especially once they begin to believe the crimes being committed are real, and Max's brother is really, truly in trouble. The hyper competitive couples are both endearing and cringe worthy, as is typical of Hollywood light comedy capers these days. I just wish it had been actually more about gaming culture, and no I don't mean LARPing or having the group be actual D&D players. Though, that would have probably been a far more interesting movie if you had the plot around a group that had started playing D&D when they were kids and the campaign was still going on. Especially since a major plot element focused on an uber uncomfortable neighbour who was excluded from the group. Alas, people would rather see Charades than seeing 40 year-olds killing Mind Flayers.