Opinion Piece- How Game Night Lovingly Rips-off David Fincher

A couple of weeks ago, a film came out called Game Night. It was a comedy with some action and intrigue mixed in, in which an elaborate game goes horribly wrong. For me, I heard this premise and thought "huh, this sounds just like The Game", a film by David Fincher, my favourite director. On the back of this and surprisingly good reviews, I checked the film out and was pleasantly surprised. Not only is the film really funny and a great time but it's also one made with real, genuine care, with actual cinematic techniques where many comedies would be flat and uninteresting. In this way, and many more, the film basically rips off the work of Fincher but honestly, it works wonderfully and makes this a comedy that works on its technical elements perhaps better than the comedic ones.

In style, there's plenty of elements that are distinctly "Fincher-esque" and as a fan, getting to pick them all out was a delight. Primarilly, what I spotted was a lot of really smooth shot movement, something Fincher is famed for. In his films, Fincher will go to such levels to attain smooth shots that he'll use CG to achieve that and where possible, Game Night seems to echo that. There's one particular car chase where the car remains in the exact same part of the shot continuously. I know that's quite hard to explain but if you see it, you'll know what I'm on about. Equally though, there's one shot done in one take (or at least edited to look that way) and the lusciously smooth camera glides around the scene in a glorious take. It's a lot like a shot from Panic Room and I mean that in the best way. Sure, Game Night doesn't use it as creepily as Panic Room but it uses it very well and should be commended for it.

Interestingly though, there's plenty of themes from Fincher's films that pop up plenty too. Relationships that are broken or at the breaking point are vital (as anyone who's seen and been traumatised by Gone Girl will tell you) and by being a film centred around three relationships, Game Night captures it. Admittedly, none of these relationships are even close to being as horrific as the one from Gone Girl, as the characters here are instead allowed to grow through their relationships, a difference that feels appropriate for a comedy. That said though, there's a lot of interesting toxic masculinity, a theme that pours from everything Fincher touches. I won't go into detail about it to avoid spoilers but there are nasty, controlling men in this film, whose worst elements all seem to stem from an inherent flaw in their concept of their masculinity. Obviously though, this is also a film packed with mystery and a couple of twists and that's something David Fincher does wonderfully every time so that's a lovely little touch for a comedy too.

There are much more obvious homages to Fincher though and that comes into more direct references. The most obvious one is the title and premise, which explicitly reference David Fincher's The Game. In that film, a man (played by Michael Douglas) is entered into a game but one which soon spirals out into life and death as the boundaries between game and reality fade away. Game Night occupies that same space, even going for the same macguffin of a game where the boundaries between fiction and reality disappear but seeing it done in a comedy is exhilirating. In fact, don't say it too loudly, Game Night does it so well that it becomes a better film than The Game. More implicit references are made throughout the film though and one stands out superbly for me; fight clubs. I famously adore Fight Club so when a film even slightly references that, my heart skips a little. With that in mind, consider how much I am taken with a film when fight clubs become the crux of a major running joke.

What you may have picked up from all of this is that Game Night isn't exactly a particularly original film and that's certainly not what anyone will enjoy about this film. Instead, Game Night is a testament to how originality isn't needed when what you borrow, you borrow with love and care. The reason I fell for Game Night was simply this, as I finally found a film that loves David Fincher as much as I do.