2103. Game Over, Man! (2018)

Starring: Adam Devine, Anders Holm, Blake Anderson

Director: Kyle Newacheck

Running Time: 101 mins

Game Over, Man! is an American film about three lowly waiters who find themselves caught up in the middle of a major hostage crisis after terrorists take over the hotel they are working in, and only they can save the day.

This film was an absolute waste of time. The word ‘juvenile’ doesn’t even cover it, because Game Over, Man! Is an absolute mess of a comedy/Die Hard parody, featuring consistently unfunny humour from beginning to end, awful performances from every single actor, and excessively gory and heavy action style, and so much idiotic childishness throughout. It may have the ambition of a big-budget comedy parody, but it certainly doesn’t match up to that, and as such makes for one of the most irritating films I’ve seen in a long while.

I despised so, so much about this film, but before we get in to all of the horrific negatives, let’s look at the one measly positive that prevents the film from being a true disaster. In truth, even though it’s not funny or anything, the ways in which the film directly parodies or makes reference to Die Hard does alleviate some of its awfulness, simply because you’re reminded of just how good a movie Die Hard is taking your mind off the monstrosity before your eyes for a brief but beautiful moment.

But we can’t live in fantasy land and just watch Die Hard on repeat, so we have to accept the fact that Game Over, Man! Is a true waste of everybody’s time and money. Above all, it’s just not funny. Juvenile and vulgar comedies are some of the worst out there, and this film sticks out as a stinker even in that awful bracket. From start to finish, the way in which the film pummels you with horribly garish vulgarity, throwing all sorts of explicit gags at you without even a flicker of genuine wit, is incredibly painful to withstand, and following on from that, any of its attempts to use some actual words (rather than sensitive body parts) to make you laugh, it falls completely flat on its face yet again, with some of the most cringeworthy failed comedy I’ve ever seen.

Another element of the film that really frustrated me was the fact that the action feels way too heavy for what should have been a silly genre parody. Throughout, we see limbs brutally severed, heads explode in fountains of blood, and an excessive amount of properly intense gunfire, all of which makes for an action movie that’s really too heavy and gory for its atmosphere, making it not only unfunny, but genuinely unpleasant and uncomfortable to watch.

Finally, the performances. I can’t say that anybody in this film manages to put in an even passable or moderately likable performance, with both the heroes and the villains proving either laughably awful or simply horrible to watch. The screenplay doesn’t do them any favours, as it writes the lead heroes as juvenile idiots with an incredibly weak backstory and motivation, but that doesn’t leave the actors completely blameless, as they fail to instil even the slightest bit of likability or charisma into their characters, making them all truly painful to watch.

Overall, I straight up hated Game Over, Man!. Not only is it a film that totally lacks a good sense of humour, instead being content to fish into the mind of  a 13 year-old boy for supposed ‘comedy’, but it also features a tedious story, excessively heavy action, and an all-round extremely unpleasant atmosphere, and that’s why I’m giving it a 4.5.