Game Night 2018

     Max and his wife Annie usually meet with four close friends each week for a game night.  Max and Annie usually win the games but their marriage is on rocky ground.  Annie is worried that Max doesn’t want to have children.  She thinks he may be too much into the game nights.  It would be more difficult to get together with their friends every week if they have a child?  Max’s shady brother reappears after a long absence and he suggest the next gathering be held at his place.  Brooks intends for the game night to jump to the next level.  He organizes a full-blown murder mystery party complete with actors as criminals and cops.  Everything starts to take a dark turn with the game becoming too real. 

     This film switches back and forth between fun games and dangerous games.  Sometimes it’s difficult to tell when it’s not a part of the fun game and it’s moved onto the dangerous game??  Is the blood real or is it fake blood??  Are the guys actors or criminals?  There always sees to be one person left out in games with children and adults??  3* (This movie is OK.  

100 min, Action directed by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein with Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Bill Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jess Plemons, Michael C. Hall, Danny Huston, Chelsea Peretti, Camille Chen, Zerrick Williams. Joshua Mikel, R.F. Faley.

Note:  Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 84% critic 79% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 803 reviews, Common Sense Media, positive 1*, role models 2*, violence 3*, sex 2*, language 4*, consumerism 2*, drinking, drugs, smoking 1*, Metacritic 66 out of 100 with 41 critics 7.2 out of 10 with 231 reviews, Empire Online 4* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Marietta, Atlanta and Cartersville, Georgia.  There is a joke between Max and Annie that child actors don’t amount to much.  Jason Bateman was a child actor famous for his role in Silver Spoons and Valerie of 1986.  Before production began, the cast members had their own game night to get to know each other and prepare for the film.  Jason Bateman was set to direct but John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein would not do the rewrite of the script unless they could also direct.  Michael C. Hall is one of the bad guys and he played another bad guy in the TV series Dexter.