Film Review: Jason Bateman & Rachel McAdams Score on ‘Game Night’

Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 24, 2018 - 11:15am

CHICAGO – A game cast elevates what is otherwise a bit of a ho hum affair in the action comedy “Game Night.” Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are a middle class couple hosting weekly game nights with a group of good friends. But when Bateman’s competitive venture capitalist older brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) comes to town, he promises to take game night up a notch.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

This leads to a somewhat convoluted plot which attempts to confuse both the characters and audiences about what is real and what is not, and who’s in on it. And luckily by this time, Jason Bateman can play a part like this in his sleep. He’s his usual uptight “Michael Bluth” type, but Bateman continues to find a way to mine laughs out of his usual persona. It’s hard to imagine anyone else getting as much humor out of an “Ed Norton” game clue as Bateman does here. It helps to have McAdams, who not only displays real winning chemistry with Bateman, but shows a go-for-broke flair for comedy without spilling over into desperate mugging.

”Game Night” opens everywhere on February 23rd. Featuring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Danny Huston and Michael C. Hall. Written by Mark Perez. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Rated “R”