Director: Marco Petry
Writers: Claudius Pläging, Andrej Sorin
Stars: Dennis Mojen, Janina Uhse, Anna Maria Mühe
Synopsis: A young man meets his new girlfriend’s friends for the first time at their regular game night, putting him under pressure to make a good impression. But then suddenly, her ex shows up as well.
We can all relate to the all-encompassing nature of new romance depicted in the German Netflix comedy Blame the Game (Spieleabend). That desire for connection is now fulfilled by all the positive attention. The novelty of a new relationship is exciting and brings an intense focus. Soon, hormones like dopamine and adrenaline begin to release.
All the intense, all-consuming affection makes everything around you fade away. Oh, and you also feel that instant connection when each of your best friends, two adorable pooches, meet each other in a park and begin to hump each other with no shame at your favorite local dog park. At least, that’s what the filmmakers of Blame the Game want us to think.
This makes it one of the more disingenuous comedies in recent streaming memory.
Written by Claudius Pläging (It’s Your Turn, Honey), the film is somewhat of a rip-off of one of the more overrated comedies of the past decade, Game Night. Here, after those delightful pups get together in the park, a local bike shop owner, Jan (Dennis Mojen), and a local canine photographer, Pia (Janine Uhse), reach that point in their blossoming romance where it’s time to meet her friends.
And what better way to do that than during the annual game night? Pia has an eclectic group of friends, to say the least. Her best friend, who lives with her, Karo (Anna Maria Mühe), is wealthy and owns a business that brings in over six figures annually. She and her husband, Oliver (Axel Stein), an emasculated man who loves to cosplay, hit on their maid, Gabriela (Alfonsina Bencosme).
Rounding out the group is Sheila (Taneshia Abt), who cannot get over a breakup with her ex-girlfriend. The same goes for Mathias (Stephan Luca), who is still in love with Pia and wants her back. Sheila’s brother, Kurt (Maximilian Bretschneider), playing the role akin to Jesse Plemons’s Gary, is a freeloader who continuously makes Jan uncomfortable. I will say that Bretschneider is by far the most amusing of the bunch, but the script needed more of him.
Directed by Marco Petry (How to Be Really Bad), Blame the Game is a cheap imitation of better ensemble comedies because the film lacks proper structure and moves the plot along with dozens of filler scenes that add nothing to the experience and just waste time. This means there was plenty of time to take bigger swings and risks. The experience feels cheap and forced when comedy should feel natural.
Then, when Netflix’s Blame the Game does take a big swing, the film doesn’t track or make sense. For example, the film takes a big jump by having two rivals play ping pong naked with little promotion and no explanation. There is simply nothing modern or new about the film or even the dating experience that the movie tries to portray.
Then, you have the ridiculous scene where Jan brings a game that is used to antagonize and torment characters and create tension within the group. That would all be fine and even acceptable, if Blame the Game’s script is funny, which it is not. The humor is south of average, even mediocre, and while the characters are likable, Mojen and Ushe do have a flirty energy, that’s not enough to recommend a stale comedy that feels too long at a sparse 90 minutes.
