Rating: 1/5 stars
Netflix recently released an action/comedy film called “Game Over, Man!” directed by Kyle Newacheck (“Workaholics”). The protagonists are three best friends working in a hotel as housekeepers. The opening scene shows the trio cleaning a room that is completely trashed. One of the friends, Darren (Anders Holm, “Workaholics”), suddenly gets extremely high, and the two sober friends, Joel (Blake Anderson, “Workaholics”) and Alexxx (Adam Devine, “Workaholics”), decide to pick up one of the condoms that litter the room and put it on his face, since he is much too high to stop them.
This sort of humor, raunchy and somewhat offensive, can be seen throughout the film. The most famous work of both the actors and the director are the same. This only solidified the idea that this was a high-budget project so a few white dudes could make “dick jokes.” During the film, the three are working a party for a famous, wealthy instagram star named The Bey (Utkarsh Ambudkar, “Pitch Perfect”) when terrorists attack the hotel and hold everyone inside hostage. The three, motivated by potential monetary gain, decide they should try to save the hotel to finance their video game idea, the Skintendo Joystick.
Besides the repulsive humor, tasteless close-ups of male genitalia and literal castration, the film attempted to show diversity among the cast, but the way it was included was so poorly executed that it was hard to not be offended. Toward the beginning of the movie, Joel is trying hard to fit in with his friends, not able to understand their “heterosexual” football references, accidentally hitting on men and being insecure in everything he does. It was made clear to the viewer that he was supposed to be a closeted homosexual. When the trio was going to face the antagonist, he decided to come out. The way he did it, originally, fit into the movie perfectly and was, in the grand scheme of things, tasteful. However, once he was out, he became a stereotypical “sassy gay man,” which was embarrassing and offensive to watch. In his fight, the opponent called him a “faggot,” which was unnecessary and out of character. In the end, he became promiscuous and was in varying state of undress, which suggested the idea that in order to be a gay man, you must be feminine.
The plot was so predictable that as some were watching the film, they predicted frame by frame what would happen. What was supposed to be a minor plot twist was obvious. The characters that the viewer was supposed to be rooting for were so hard to cheer on. The antagonists of the film were interesting, dynamic and more funny than the ones who were supposed to be comedic. The acting among the heroes was subpar at best, but the acting of the villains was one part of the film that did not disappoint miserably.
The fact that Netflix, a company that normally promotes diversity and creates really good content (“Sense8”, “Orange is the New Black,” “A Series of Unfortunate Events”), allowed such a comically awful movie to be produced at all is disrespectful. The best part of this film was when the credits started rolling.
Image from Netflix via YouTube.com
