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I’d like to tell you a story today. It’s a true story, and something that happened to me just this morning.
We were walking the dog, as we always do in the mornings, down Eastern Parkway. It’s a broad, four-lane road that runs through central Brooklyn. On each side of the street, there’s a treelined promenade, perfect for dog walking. Not to be too explicit about things, but our dog seems to particularly enjoying leaving a deposit (so to speak) about two-thirds of the way between our home and the Brooklyn Museum. Today was not an exception.
Thankfully, I came prepared for the morning ritual and had a plastic bag recycled from our delivery of the Sunday Times. I even joked as I picked it up, referencing perhaps the best Family Guy sketch ever where Stewy tells Brian (the dog) to “pick up my poop” after they travel to an alternate universe where dogs walk people. Unfortunately, I jinxed the situation and the bag had a giant hole in it. Sometimes life does that to you; you’re expecting one thing, and you get something else entirely. Instead of picking up a nice fresh one with a plastic bag protecting my hand, I… just sort of picked up a nice fresh one with my hand.
I froze, horror coursing across my face. My first inclination was to toss the offensive deposit aside, but that wasn’t an option. And besides, my hand was already covered. Then there was a sound, a double tap of a truck horn: Beep beep. I looked up, and there was my savior. The driver of a snack food delivery truck waved at me and tossed me a length of clean paper towel from his cab. I was saved! Despite doing nothing to deserve it, a complete stranger had stepped in to save me from my poopacolypse.
Good neighbors are good to come by. Sometimes a neighbor is a stranger with paper towels to spare. Sometimes they live upstairs and drop off a loaf of fresh sour dough and bottle of tequila just as you’re bemoaning the fact that there’s no bread in the house (also happened today). Sometimes they just help you keep an eye on the place. Whatever the circumstances, they make all the difference in the world.
Today’s Film: Game Night (2018)
Jason Bateman is nothing if not consistent in his ability to deliver casual yet engaging performances seasoned with wry humor and a dose of rage. He’s a genius at playing the everyman with an edge — whether that’s Michael Bluth with his simmering resentments in Arrested Development or the ruthlessly ambitious Marty Byrde in Ozark. In Game Night, Bateman slips into a similar role as Max, a somewhat dull but generally successful suburbanite with a profound need to win, no matter how petty the circumstances.
The film follows three adult couples — including Max and Annie (Rachel McAdams) — who have a regular game night, although they exclude their weird, weird neighbor played by a totally creepy Jesse Plemons. It’s a comfortable yet claustrophobic tradition that gets out of hand when Max’ brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) shows him up in front of the group. Soon enough, the two brothers are competing relentlessly and things get really out of hand when a planned murder mystery party takes on a life of its own.
The wonderful thing about this film is how quickly writer Mark Perez takes a common social gathering — game night — and amps it up until death is literally on the line and the characters are pushed to their absolute limits, often with violently funny consequences. It’s not slapstick, however. There’s some real pathos. Eventually, the narrative goes through a series of reversals and switchbacks, leaving the audience trying to piece together a mystery alongside Max and Annie and defeat an unseen villain. I don’t want to give too much away since half the fun is seeing the improbable places Game Night goes.
Despite being critically adored, the film never generated the buzz it deserved, perhaps because it defies standard genre definitions. While Game Night is undeniably funny, it has a weirdness and noir sensibility that prevent it from being purely a comedy. Yet it’s definitely not a drama or a thriller either. However you want to define it, though, the film is terribly entertaining, and it will both make you miss game night with your neighbors and cause you to feel rather glad you have the pandemic as an excuse to get out of it. Enjoy.
Game Night is available to rent on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and various other platforms.
Reading List:
Christopher Nolan’s latest film, Tenet, is slated to hit theaters on July 17, and speculation has been rampant about whether that date will hold firm despite the lockdown. If it does come out as scheduled, The New Yorker wonders if it can save cinema.
Check out One Hundred Sentences About the City of the Future: A Jeremiad, a fantastic new piece of short science fiction by Alex Irvine over at Lightspeed magazine.
Benjamin Reeves is an award-winning screenwriter, journalist and media consultant based in Brooklyn, New York. Follow him on Twitter @bpreeves or write to him at breeves.writer@gmail.com.