Game Night is underseen and undervalued, which is a shame because it is one of the most formally inventive mainstream comedies of recent years. The film opens with a visual concept, characters and environments styled and shot to resemble pieces on a game board, and then maintains that concept throughout with a consistency that is genuinely impressive.

Max and Annie (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams) are competitive game night obsessives. When Max’s successful brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) organizes an elaborate murder mystery game night, things go sideways in ways that are simultaneously a real crime thriller and an extended game scenario. The characters spend the film unable to determine whether what is happening is part of the game or not.

The screenplay is tightly plotted, with a second act reveal that genuinely changes everything that came before it without cheating. Each character has a clear motivation and a clear character arc, which is more than most comedies bother with.

Bateman and McAdams have genuine chemistry and are allowed to be actually smart characters navigating a situation that requires intelligence rather than stupidity. Jesse Plemons as the isolated, odd neighbor Gary is the film’s secret weapon: his particular deadpan is deployed perfectly in every scene.

Game Night is the kind of comedy that rewards rewatching because the second time through you see exactly how much it planned and planted. This is a film made by people who actually like games, and it shows.