An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was starring Anna Kendrick and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. To be honest, even though I did see Jake Johnson in some stuff, I would be rather hard-pressed to name any of his movies but good for him for giving a try behind the camera (while still being in front of it). Concerning the concept, it was not bad, it was some kind of indie version of ‘The Game’ and there was definitely some potential. I also didn’t mind that it remained pretty opaque through the whole duration, pretty much like what they did with ‘The Game’. Eventually, if you would try to explain something like this, it would probably be ridiculous but, above all, it wouldn’t be really interesting after all. So, the approach was good at first and, yet, I’m afraid it didn’t really work after all. Basically, they set up the rules at the beginning which was a good start but, then, that was it, they never really went further then this after all and, as a result, it all felt just too low-key for my taste. I mean, was it real or not? Did the makers really care? I’m not sure. The best example was the addition of Wayne Brady (maybe he is famous in the US but I had no idea who he was) who was added there of course as a joke but to convince also the main character’s family that it was actually a real game after all. I was not sure if mixing it up with a generic romantic story was also the right move. I’m not blaming Kendrick, she was basically born to play such characters (at this point, she might want to try something else though) but being involved in such life-threatening situation might not be the best circumstances to meet some cool chick (on the other hand, Katness did meet Peeta during the Hunger Games so I might be mistaken here). I actually preferred the relationship with James/Walter which made more sense to me. In fact, it would have been even better if the game would have coupled some average dude played by Jake Johnson and some movie star like Andy Samberg played by Andy Samberg himself, that would have been awesome but it would have been a completely different movie though. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, at least, if you like the genre.