Game Night

Summary

“How can that be profitable for Frito-Lay?”

Warner Bros. has just made the surprising decision to give their 2018 comedy Game Night a 4K UHD release. They had previously released Game Night on Blu-ray in 2018, but I am guessing that some analytic I am not privy to warranted a full scale 4K release six years later. I am not complaining, because I actually love Game Night. Comedies are some of the hardest films to write successfully. (If you disagree with this statement, have you watched any truly great comedies recently? My guess would be that you have not seen many that immediately come to mind.) The last decade in particular has been a fairly dry period for good R-rated comedies. In 2018, I was completely surprised by just how good Game Night turned out to be. Starring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, and an excellent ensemble cast, Game Night is one of the funniest comedies in the last ten years. The film was directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathon Goldstein, who went on to write and direct Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Prior to directing Game Night, Jonathon Goldstein had written the other great Jason Bateman-led comedy Horrible Bosses. Like Horrible Bosses, Game Night is a whip-smart joke-a-moment film that is both exciting and lighthearted. I had not revisited the film in about five years, so I was excited when Warner gave the film a 4K update. I watched Game Night the other night with my wife and oldest son. We had a great laugh together.

At a trivia night at a bar, Max (Jason Bateman) meets Annie (Rachel McAdams.) They are both extremely competitive and playing for different trivia teams, but there is a spark there. They have a whirlwind relationship based around the playing of games. Max even proposes to Annie using the game of charades. They get married. A few years later, they see a doctor about their lack of progress getting pregnant. His sperm are healthy but their motility is limited. The doctor asks if there is any stress in their relationship. The two lovers are so competitive that it may actually be hurting their ability to conceive, or maybe there is a deep seated feeling of inadequacy for Max that is rooted in competitions with his extremely successful older brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler.) Brooks is independently wealthy from investing in Panera Bread early. The couple regularly hold game nights at their house with their friends. These game nights have caused an awkward tension between themselves and their police officer neighbor Gary Kingsbury (Jesse Plemons,) whom they have not asked to join them for game night ever since Gary was divorced by his wife Debra. Gary desperately wants to be invited, so Max and Annie force their friends to park elsewhere and enter the house through the back to avoid arousing Gary’s suspicions. Their married friends Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury) arrive first. Next to arrive is their single friend Ryan (Billy Magnussen) with the latest inept girl he has picked up. His dates are notoriously bad at games. When Brooks shows up to the game night driving a red Stingray, he steals Max’s thunder quickly in the games. It is also revealed when they play “never have I ever” that Michelle at some point may have slept with a celebrity. This causes an issue between herself and Kevin, because the couple are basically high school sweethearts. Before leaving, Brooks invites everyone to a game night at his house in one week. A week later, everyone shows up to Brook’s house for the game. Ryan has brought a more intelligent date named Sarah (Sharon Horgan) with him in hopes of finally winning the game night. Brooks explains to everyone that the game that night will be unlike any game they have ever played. He will be kidnapped, and whomever tracks him down will end up with keys to the Stingray. An actor (Jeffrey Wright) shows up at the house to begin the game night, but two men that are not acting attack him and actually kidnap Brooks. Unaware that the kidnapping is real, the three couples begin working to try to locate Brooks and win the Corvette.

Game Night is that rarest of things – a crowd pleasing comedy that is actually funny. In fact, I think it’s hilarious. The film has a lot going for it with an exceptional ensemble cast, a strong script, and great pacing that keeps the film exciting and funny for its duration. The film is a brisk 100 minutes, and doesn’t tip the balance towards overstaying its welcome. Comedies seem to be well served by a less-is-more approach to runtimes, and Game Night is a nice controlled length. Comedies like this are being made less and less, and it’s a shame. There are so many good scripts out there that deserve to be made, yet the studios seemingly focus on the lowest common denominator cookie-cutter approach to the few comedies that are released theatrically each year. Game Night’s script by Mark Perez is consistently surprising and funny, serving up a mixture of romantic comedy with a touch of David Fincher’s 1997 suspense film The Game. The film does not take itself too seriously, but does manage to develop a group of characters that all are given good moments to make the audience laugh. While Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are the stars of the film, Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury are very funny as lovers in a spat. Billy Magnussen and Sharon Horgan are also fun to watch as each other’s blind dates. Kyle Chandler is reliably great as Max’s older cooler big brother. The entire ensemble cast plays off of each other well, and Jesse Plemons steals the film in what should have been a smaller role as the neighbor Gary. Plemons is undeniably talented, and he is so good in the film that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Denver Film Critics Society Awards. While I have never heard of that award ceremony, I think they were on to something. The picture plays to the strengths of Jason Bateman’s comedic delivery that he honed in Arrested Development. Bateman is a great comedic everyman, playing straight man roles better than most. The role of Max plays to his strengths and he nailed it. Rachel McAdams is also great in the role of Annie. I was consistently surprised by her strong comedic timing in the picture. For example, when she quotes Pulp Fiction while wielding a gun that she believes to be fake, her delivery is perfect. She is extremely funny in the picture. Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathon Goldstein had no issue getting the very best out of all the actors involved and also directing the action sequences well. The film is very well thought out and just well done.

Overall – Game Night is a tremendously funny film that is well worth adding to your collection. If you have not seen it, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Video

Game Night was shot on a combination of Redcode 8K RAW and ARRIRAW 2.8K digital film. The digital intermediate for the film on its theatrical release was 2K. This tends to muddy the water for fans of the 4K format, because the 4K release of a 2K film will still be somewhat less impressive than a true 4K UHD from a 4K intermediate. The 4K uptick is still more impressive than the original Blu-ray release, showing off the film in a truly uncompressed version, but some fans of the film will probably not find the uptick would be worth the upgrade. That said, Game Night is a very well shot comedy. Cinematographer Barry Peterson had worked on digital film since the film Jumper in 2008, and he knew how to bring the very best out of the format. Digital film works pretty well for nighttime sequences, and Game Night takes place for the most part over one crazy evening. There are some really clever shots such as moments where overhead shots make the characters look as if they are in a board game. I would say that an uncommon amount of thought went into the look of the film for a comedy. The HDR brings the best out of the film, and if I did not know that it came from a 2K intermediate, I probably would have had no bias against the visuals whatsoever. Fans should consider upgrading for this visual presentation, because I don’t anticipate the film being visually improved past this 4K upgrade.

Audio

Game Night originally shipped on Blu-ray in 2018 with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, and Warner has kept that same track. While it would have been a welcome addition to see this track upgrade to Atmos, especially considering the amount of action oriented setpieces, the original 5.1 sound design is very good. The music has standout songs by Queen, Hall and Oates, Billy Joel and more, with a well considered score by Cliff Martinez. Cliff Martinez is an amazing composer who is probably best known for his work on Nicolas Winding-Refn’s films (Drive, Only God Forgives.) The former bandmate of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was a solid choice for composing the film and adds a lot to the picture’s more exciting sequences. All of his work comes through very well, and the dialogue is crystal clear. It’s a very good track overall.

Supplements: There are roughly ten minutes of special features ported from the prior Blu-ray release. This is a bit of a missed opportunity for this release.

• An Unforgettable Evening: Making Game Night
• Gag Reel

Overall Scores:

Video: 4.5

Audio: 4.5

Special Features: 1.5

Overall – 4.5/5

Game Night was a great surprise for me when I first saw it in 2018. Game Night is a laugh-out-loud situational comedy with an excellent ensemble cast led by Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams. The movie was theatrically released with a 2K digital intermediate, so the 4K UHD presentation is not a mindblowing upgrade over the Blu-ray, but it looks pretty dang good on the 4K format with HDR and Dolby Vision. If I had not done research and realized it was a 2K intermediate, I probably would not have guessed it on this title. The upgrade in picture quality is the only real selling point of this disc, because the minuscule special features are ported over from the Blu-ray and the solid DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track is also the same as on the 2018 Blu-ray release. Obviously, a better selection of special features and an Atmos track would have made a much more compelling case for people to purchase this 4K UHD release, but I am still excited to have the film in my 4K library. Fans of the film that do not own a copy should snatch up this version, and fans that already own the Blu-ray will need to ask themselves if the visual uptick is worth doubling down. Regardless, this is a great movie and this release still comes highly recommended!

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.