GAME NIGHT (Malaysia, 01 Mar 2018)

Genre: Comedy
Running Length: 1:40
Cast: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons
Director: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Screenplay: Mark Perez

If you have not watched the trailer for GAME NIGHT - DON'T! Because some of the best bits were revealed in the trailer and it kinda ruined my experience when I watched the movie: "Oh, I know what's going to happen next." (So, I've decided not to include the trailer here in the usual spot)

What's this movie about?
A group of friends who regularly meets for game nights (charades, monopoly, RISK etc) decides to participate in a "real-life" solve a murder mystery game one day. But little did they know, it's not a game they are playing, or are they? This may sound like a thriller horror movie, but it's not. It's a comedy and it's funny.

What I like about it?

• It kept me guessing throughout the movie whether it's a game or not. And the clever twists works. 
• The comedy! There is a variety of comedy type genre here; from LOL cringe-inducing moments to clever pop culture references. For movie geeks, you'll love the many references.
• I got to know the main characters and their relationships better throughout the course of the "game". That's a nice way of revealing who these people are. 
• Some stylish camera work. 
• Rachel McAdams. I didn't know she could do comedy. Yeah, there were some scenes which she was overacting but overall, she is as good as Jason Bateman. 
• Jesse Plemons. Period. 

What I didn't like?

• The comedy is a little uneven at times and it does go on a bit too much. 

RATING: 7.5/10

MAN UP (2015)

Genre: Romance/Comedy
Running Length: 1:28
Cast: Lake Bell, Simon Pegg, Ophelia Lovibond, Olivia Williams, Rory Kinnear, Sharon Horgan, Stephen Campbell Moore
Director: Ben Palmer
Screenplay: Tess Morris 

MAN UP is like a pop version of Before Sunrise. Our two main characters talk about various topics (nice movie references) and do things together as they get deeper and deeper into each others' hang-ups as the night goes by, but the treatment is overly simplistic and too neat. The guilty pleasure of watching a romantic comedy is its predictability. We know where the story will be heading but what defines a true adult rom-com is how the filmmakers take a tried and tested formula and add a layer of realism into it (Personally, Silver Linings Playbook still takes the cake in this genre). Man Up started off quite promisingly but it got really clumsy and corny as it came to the end. And when an unrequited high school crush towards our female lead shows up in the middle of the film to give it a dash of slapstick, you know where all this is heading. Nevertheless, Pegg and Bell make a charming couple. And the gender reversal scenario does give it a little twist, where our male lead plays the hopeless romantic instead while the female is the cynic but both are a mess inside, thus making them a believable couple. Some quieter scenes are really engaging (like the scene where Bell observes that Pegg is an "emotional jigsaw" and he just needs to "find the corners" to piece every thing together) but they are few and far between.

Rating: 6/10