GAME NIGHT

Plenty of comedies revolve around characters thinking a real situation is fake -- and seeing how long the movie can draw that out.  This takes up the early portion of Game Night, a movie where friends' gathering to play assorted games spirals out of control.

Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) are a happily married couple who seem obsessed with playing games, either with or against each other, and with their friends: married couple Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Michelle (Kylie Bunbury); Ryan (Billy Magnussen), who always seems to bring brainless bimbos to game night; and Sarah (Sharon Horgan), an Irish coworker of Ryan who he brought as a ringer.  Max also has issues with his older brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler), who seems more successful and better liked that Max.  Max and Annie also want to avoid letting their creepy next-door-neighbor police officer Gary (Jesse Plemons) worm his way into their game night.

Brooks takes control of game night, and he has everyone over to his house for a murder-mystery type game: Someone will be kidnapped, and whoever finds the kidnapped person first gets a cool car.  Soon enough, masked men seem to beat up and kidnap Brooks -- and the game is on!  Max and Annie trace Brooks' cell phone to find him.  Ryan and Sarah go to the company Brooks employed to find out the last clue.  And Kevin and Michelle are locked in a room by Max and Annie and have to escape -- while bickering over what celebrity Michelle slept with.

Max and Annie find Brooks, and they think the game is over and they won the car.  But it turns out that Brooks is a smuggler, and his kidnapping was real.  Brooks promised to deliver a Faberge egg to a criminal known as the Bulgarian, and soon the friends are all working together to get and deliver the egg, save Brooks, and keep the police from getting involved.

Game Night is a decent comedy that's slightly uneven.  Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are very good as the couple who go quite a while thinking all the craziness is just part of a game, and Jesse Plemons is nicely weird as the just-off neighbor, and the rest of the cast is decent.  Some of the humor works fine (amateurs removing a bullet, getting blood off of a white dog) and some falls flat (the shift to borderline action movie).  Game Night is okay, though better than most movies based on actual games (and probably the ones coming soon).

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Some movies are just a big set-up to show a wild and over-the-top party.  These are usually teen movies, but in Office Christmas Party an adult and quite good cast work through a pretty mundane plot.

Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) is the Chief Technical Officer for the Chicago branch of tech company Zenotek.  He's the nice, even-tempered guy who keeps everyone working together.  He's also the buddy of Clay Vanstone (T.J. Miller), the easy-going branch manager who loves to party and support his employees.  But Clay's serious sister and interim CEO Carol (Jennifer Aniston) wants to get rid of employees' bonuses, cut the staff by 40 percent, and cancel the office Christmas party.  The only way to avoid all that is if Josh and Clay get the business of Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance) while Carol heads out of town for her vacation.

The pitch to Walter goes poorly, until Clay invites Walter to a wild office Christmas party.  In no time at all, the office is filled with lights and alcohol, live reindeer, someone dressed as Jesus, and Walter going crazy after blasted in the face with cocaine.  There are a few other storylines: Josh's possible romance with programmer Tracey (Olivia Munn); uptight H.R. head Mary (Kate McKinnon) putting a damper on things and feuding with wild guy Jeremy (Rob Corddry); and nerdy Nate (Karan Sori) hiring prostitute Savannah (Abbey Lee Kershaw) to be his pretend girlfriend -- and then dealing with both her and her gun-toting pimp Trina (Jillian Bell).  The party gets more and more insane, everyone gets crazier and crazier, and of course Carol's flight is canceled and she winds up back at the office...

It's almost impressive that Office Christmas Party manages to be so mediocre with such a good cast.  The actors are all fine in their roles, but the story is completely predictable and there aren't that many laughs through the movie.  Office Christmas Party is a very slight film that's easily forgotten.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

ZOOTOPIA

There are plenty of cartoon animals who wear clothes and act like humans -- and in Zootopia, predators and prey live together and generally get along.  This being a Disney movie, there are also lessons about not judging others, dreams coming true, and some mystery to boot.

Ever since she was little, bunny rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) dreamed of leaving her family's carrot farm in the sticks and becoming a police officer in the massive metropolis of Zootopia.  She worked hard, got great grades, and finally made it.

However, life in the big city is hardly what she wants.  Lots of the larger animals look down her (literally and figuratively), and the water buffalo Police Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) sticks Judy on traffic ticket duty while the other police officers look into the disappearance of 14 predators.  Mayor Lionheart (J.K. Simmons) thinks Judy's assignment is a token program, while Deputy Mayor Bellwether (Jenny Slate), a sheep, is thrilled a small animal is getting a chance at a serious job.

 Judy gets the chance to prove herself when she agrees to find the missing Mr. Otter within 48 hours -- or resign if the fails.  To do this, she blackmails the con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) into helping her.  Their investigation leads the reluctant duo into underworld critters, predators turning savage, medical mysteries and assorted conspiracies.  And life lessons.

 Zootopia is more cute than funny.  The voice talent and animation are good, and there are plenty of jokes and references for adults: Tommy Chong as a hippie yak, references to The Godfather and Breaking Bad, and the character Gazelle who looks a whole lot like her voice actor Shakira.  But the story is very predictable and there are more chuckles than outright laughs.  Zootopia is entertaining and very, very light.

Overall grade: B-

Reviewed by James Lynch

THE GIFT

The past has a way of catching up with the present -- and sometimes it can be devastating.  This is the basis for The Gift, a psychological drama revolving around three people.

Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) are a seemingly idyllic married couple.  They just moved from California into a beautiful new home, Simon is advancing at his new job, Robyn is working from home at her old job, and they're hoping to have a baby.  While out shopping, they run into Gordon "Gordo" Moseley (Joel Edgerton, who wrote and directed The Gift), who went to school with Simon.  They exchange polite pleasantries, and arrange to meet up.

The dinner is nice, even if Gordo is socially awkward.  Afterwards, he keeps leaving small gifts at the couple's house.  Robyn likes him and feels a little sorry for him, while Simon -- who remembers him as "Gordo the Weirdo" from high school -- wants him out of their life.  Then Gordo's behavior seems to become more extreme, strange things begin happening around the house, and Robyn begins investigating what happened between Simon and Gordo back in high school -- and what her husband is really like.

The Gift is a more subtle and effective thriller-drama.  The tension and mystery comes not from violence and dead bodies, but rather from how the characters interact and reveal themselves.  Jason Bateman is terrific, gradually transforming the ambitious, determined husband to a domineering bully (in high school he was known as "Simon Says" because everyone did what he wanted) who tends to steamroll his wife as much as Gordo.  Joel Edgerton does well making Gordo somewhere between likable, creepy, and very possibly dangerous.  And Robyn Hall fills out the cast nicely, as her Rebecca begins as damaged and grows stronger as her sympathy for Gordo parallels her growing suspicions about her husband.

The ending of The Gift may be slightly anticlimactic, but the movie manages a slow, effective build of tension and a mystery that is more realistic than many thrillers.  It's definitely worth seeing.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

BAD WORDS

Lots of comedies use an unlikable protagonist as the source of dark comedy -- and Bad Words is no exception.  Starring (and directed by) Jason Bateman, this movie begins and ends with his role as a man everyone loves to hate.

Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) is a 40-year-old proofreader with a strange plan: to win the Golden Quill Spelling Bee.  While this competition is for kids, Trilby takes advantage of the loophole that the participants cannot have passed beyond the eighth grade and Trilby never graduated from grammar school.  And Trilby couldn't be a worse competitor: He revels in the hatred of the parents of the other competitors, plays horrible mind games on the kids right before they take their turn, and curses and insults just about anyone who speaks to him.

Trilby is followed by Jenny Widgeon (Kathryn Hahn), a reporter (and meaningless-sex buddy for Trilby) for whom getting information from Trilby is like pulling teeth.  Young Chaitanya Chopa (Rohan Chand) is an irrepressibly chipper kid and speller who decides to make Trilby his friend despite all the curses and abuse.  Bernice Deagan (Allison Janney) is the director of the Spelling Bee who'll do anything to keep Trilby from winning, and Dr. Bowman (Philip Baker Hall) is the dignified creator of the Spelling Bee who warns Trilby about making a mistake by winning the Spelling Bee.

Jason Bateman is very good as both director and star of Bad Words.  He makes Trilby revel in being as offensive as possible, while admitting in voiceovers that he doesn't think things through or consider consequences.  Unfortunately, almost every other part of the movie falls to the wayside, existing only to react to Trilby's bad behavior.  There's the ticking clock of the three-day finals, some movement towards sappiness to keep Trilby from being totally unsympathetic, and some revelations that aren't all the surprising.

Bad Words is a movie based solely around the main character's bad traits.  Bateman does well with them, but the rest of the movie is almost deliberately forgettable.

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

HORRIBLE BOSSES

One universal experience shared by all is the terrible boss. We've all had one: that person who manages to make every day of work a living hell, driving us crazy in different ways. Horrible Bosses takes this concept to its extreme conclusion, as three friends plot to kill each other's terrible bosses.
Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) has been at his company for eight years, working hard and taking abuse from the ruthless, uncaring Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey) in the hopes of getting a promotion. Dale Arbus (Charlie Day, best known from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) is a dental assistant who's thrilled to be getting married -- but always fending off the extremely overt sexual advances of his boss, dentist Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), who usually makes the moves on him over a patient who's getting gas. And accountant Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) actually likes his boss and his job -- until the boss dies and the company is run by the boss' son Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell, almost unrecognizable with a bad comb-over and gut) -- who wants to fire people, get rid of dangerous chemicals cheaply, and do a lot of cocaine and bimbos.
Bad as the bosses are, they get worse: Harken gives the promotion to himself and will sabotage Nick if he tries to quit; Pellitt forces Kurt to either fire people or get fired along with them; and Julia tells Dale if he doesn't sleep with her, she'll break up his marriage with compromising photos taken while Dale was under the gas. This leads Nick, Kurt, and Dale to go from hypothetical "wouldn't it be great if our bosses were dead" complaining to actively planning to kill them. After a very misdirected attempt to get a hitman online, they wind up with Dean "Motherfucker" Jones (Jamie Foxx), who acts as their "murder consultant" and urges them to kill each other's bosses, thereby dodging a motive for each one. The three friends are then off to get intel on the bosses so they can do away with them.
For a movie about abusive bosses and murderous revenge (and with a lot of cursing and sexual situations, Horrible Bosses is surprisingly light, like a prime-time sitcom. To keep the main characters sympathetic, the murder plans never feel real or dangerous (especially after Dale saves Harken from an allergy attack). And of course, the bosses are one-dimensional, there to be hated and to have their come-uppances cheered. The situations are silly, the coincidences convenient and unbelievable, and the ending feels rushed and underwritten.
With that in mind, Horrible Bosses can be pretty funny at times. Jason Bateman has done the drym befuddled character plenty of times, so he has the dry humor down pat. Charlie Day is terrific, as the neurotic, slightly whiny guy who comes across as both nice and pathetic all the time. And Jennifer Aniston manages to turn what could be a sexual fantasy into a workplace nightmare, a sexual terminator who never takes "no" for an answer. Despite the R rating, Horrible Bosses is funny fluff that's surprisingly light.

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

EXTRACT

Mike Judge has a good comic ear for types, be they the workplace (Office Space), down-to-earth conservatives (King of the Hill) or just plain morons (Beavis and Butt-Head). Unfortunately, in his new film Extract, written and directed by Judge, the humor and insight are almost missing.

Extract centers on Joel (Jason Bateman), the founder and owner of Reynold's Extract, a soda-type product. Joel works in the office, smoothing over the various problems and worker complaints. Things are good for Joel: General Mills is considering buying out the company, and when Step (Clifton Collins Jr.) suffers a, er, mid-body injury he's willing to settle for an insurance payout. On the downside, Joel hasn't slept with his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig) in three months; for her, the sweatpants are the same as a chastity belt. And Joel's bartender buddy Dean (Ben Affleck) is a fountain of bad advice, most of it revolving around drugs.

Enter Cindy (Mila Kunis), a young woman very willing to use her good looks to help her scam and steal whatever she can. She gets Step thinking of suing for as much as she gan get, and her flirtations with Joel make him consider Dean's advice to hire good-looking moron Brad (Dustin Milligan) to seduce Suzie so Joel can then go after Cindy without any guilt.

Unlike Judge's other work, Extract doesn't provide sympathy or interest for his characters. Instead of having comedy come from the characters, there are "funny situations" that aren't funny (like Joel coughing up massive amounts of marijuana smoke) and one-dimensional characters, from an annoying neighbor who never stops talking to Gene Simmons as a greedy lawyer. The cast is fantastic -- I've loved Bateman, Kunis, and J.K. Simmons in other work, and Wiig shows a nice timing that her SNL work must have delevoped -- but the characters aren't interesting. Extract has a few laughs here and there, but it's surprisingly disappointing.

Overall grade: D
Reviewed by James Lynch

Juno

Teen pregnancy may not seem to be the best focus for a teen comedy, but it's the starting point of Juno. This movie is both amusing and serious, though I had my problems with the protagonist.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a 16-year-old high school student who seems smart, independent, and outspoken. She lives with her father Mac (J.K. Simmons) and stepmom Brenda (Allison Janney) and hangs out with friends Leah (Olivia Thirlby) and Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera, practically a staple of the deeper teen movie these days). In fact, one night of intimacy with Paulie and Juno soon finds herself pregnant.

Following a trip to an abortion clinic, Juno decides to give the baby to a deserving couple. She and Leah scour the Pennysaver and find the perfect couple: Mark Loring (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner), a seemingly ideal upper-class couple.

Juno has several balls in the air: How will pregnancy affect Juno's life at school? What's going on between Juno and Paulie? What of the cracks that gradually appear in Mark and Vanessa's relationship?

Audiences fell in love with Ellen Page's spunky young teen, but I found her grating: Everything she says is clever and pointed, her pregnancy seldom seems like more than an inconvenience, and she has an air of superiority to everyone. When Mark asks her, "Pretentious much?" I had to agree wholeheartedly.

And yet, the rest of Juno is quite satisfying. The supporting cast is near perfect. Michael Cera once again shows how well he can play the quiet, slightly befuddled teen. Simmons and Janney are perfect as the parents who find themselves suddenly dealing with the unexpected (after hearing the news, they have this conversation in private: "Did you see that coming?" "Yeah... but I was hoping she was expelled, or into hard drugs." "That was my first instinct too. Or a DWI... anything but this!") And Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner steal the movie for me: She's the wannabe mom who obsesses over every part of Juno's pregnancy, while he seems happy just watching slasher movies and talking about great music.

Juno also has plenty of humor, from the silent chorus of jogging teen males in red shirts and gold shorts to teens acting normal (trying to act normal?) in the middle of this whirlwind of a circumstance. I think the movie does underplay the seriousness of teen pregnancy, and the protagonist's coolness felt false, but there's plenty in Juno to enjoy.

Overall grade: B

Reviewed by James Lynch