Game Night Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

1. It's Needlessly Sentimental

Because this is a studio comedy aimed at casual audiences, it of course needs to have an earnest, sentimental subplot, which in this case refers to protagonists Max and Annie (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams) struggling to conceive a child.

It mercifully only takes up a few short minutes of the movie, and Bateman and McAdams at least fire it through with all the conviction they can muster, though it ultimately just feels like an unnecessary, calculated, treacly affectation in a movie that doesn't really need it.

It's basically what passes for "character development" here, but it mostly just feels like it was mandated by the algorithm of whatever supercomputer is really running Warner Bros.

These small issues aside, though, Game Night really is a fun ride, and here's everything it absolutely nails...