Marco Petryโs “Blame the Game” (Spieleabend, 2024), distributed by Netflix, follows a young man who meets his new girlfriendโs friend circle for the first time when invited to attend their regular game night (Spieleabend). He is understandably nervous to make a good impression, but the night starts quite badly due to one of his hijinks. The situation worsens when his girlfriend’s ex shows up at the game night, intensifying the tension and animosity.
This 2024 offering might sound like the German version of the 2018 R-rated American film “Game Night,” and that wouldnโt be an entirely wrong impression. This, however, isnโt a remake, but it does share similar DNA in terms of humor. It’s toned down in terms of budget and scale and chooses to focus on the interpersonal dynamics that threaten to break as Game Night slowly starts to unravel.
Blame the Game (Spieleabend, 2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The objective of a rom-com with its opening sequence is not only to highlight the chemistry between the leads we would be ostensibly following but also to highlight the tonality of the movie we would be ideally engaged in. The โmeet-cuteโ sequence beginning with Jan (Dennis Mojen) and Pia (Janina Uhse) meeting at a dog park in Berlin after having to separate the two dogs from mating already hints at the raucous nature the movie would strive to reach. But apparently, the mutual attraction of the dogs seems to be shared by their owners as well because the two of them slowly begin to be enamored with each other in the throes of first love. But Janโs happiness gets dampened when Pia invites him to the regular game night with her friends, which has been a ritual with them for a very long time.
Understandably, Jan is hesitant to tag along with Pia, much more so after learning that the friends circle would be meeting at Piaโs friend Karoโs house at Gruenwald, an uptown area of Berlin. The class division between Jan and Pia wouldnโt be readily noticeable, as Pia seems to be unbothered by such. But both Jan and Alex (Edin Hasanovic), his best friend and business partner at their bike store, are perturbed. Thus, they decide that Jan will turn up at that house with a prototype portable airbag as a gift for Karo to secure a good impression.
The night, as it turns out, starts quite poorly and doesnโt mitigate Janโs nervousness. For one thing, while Karo (Anna Maria Muhe) isnโt as impressed with Jan, she happily accepts the airbag until that airbag malfunctions and opens up, mussing up her hairdo. Janโs meeting with the rest of the friends also doesnโt start quite auspiciously. Karoโs husband, Oli (Axel Stein), is ordained with a snobbishness that works well as shorthand for representing the upper class. His habitual nature of looking down and snidely remarking upon seeing Jan unable to participate in the games further reinforces that notion and the rest of the circle follows suit as well, except for Kurt (Max Bretschneider), the man-child brother of Karo, who takes a shine to Jan.
The night gets progressively worse when Jan, in the middle of the game, gets up to attend a call from Alex in Oliโs room and mistakenly lets Oliโs cockatoo out on the massive lawn of their house. Meanwhile, Alex, hearing Janโs panic, rushes out to help, and while Jan is flabbergasted at his friendโs appearance, he is more than happy to let his friend handle this lingering issue, instructing him to search for the cockatoo by downloading an app that would produce bird noises.
Jan is understandably irritated because of the โfish-out-of-waterโ mental state that refuses to subside with every choice he makes. Upon realizing that he would have to face questions regarding his presence on the lawn, he sneaks in through the kitchen and is also discovered by the Au pair (a servant from a foreign country working for a host family). While Gabriela, the au pair, admits that one tended to get lost in the big house, Jan notices that all the spread that Karo had been bragging about having spent an inordinate amount of time had all been done under Gabriela’s tutelage. This further contributes to Janโs disillusionment with the friends circle.
What finally breaks the straw in the camelโs back is the appearance of Matthias (Stephan Luca), apparently under the suggestion of Oli, ignoring the fact that Mat and Pia had been broken up for a bit. Mat had entered the game night with a purpose, and the presence of Jan only further incensed him, and he started to snidely belittle Jan and call upon earlier times and how Pia and Mat used to be the best players of this game night. He even invokes the ownership of Piaโs dog to subtly twist the knife further. To the credit of Jan, he wouldnโt openly talk back, and even Pia would take him aside and even ask to leave. Jan would refuse, but Mat would try to further drive a wedge between the rest of the friends and Jan.
Jan, out of a necessity to distract the players from Alexโs hijinks on the lawn, exhibits curiosity about Sheila (Taneshia Abt) and her perpetual optimism about getting back with her ex-girlfriend. Sheila would even try to show Jan the text message she had drafted to send, but she had never managed to do it. But Mat would take the phone from Jan and surreptitiously send the message, which sent Sheila into a tizzy. Mat further tries to hijack the game night by bragging about the holiday he had spent with Pia before launching into a full-blown solo act with a guitar. This is the moment when the bough breaks, figuratively for Jan and literally for Alex, who, unbeknownst to Oli, had not only walked over wet cement but also destroyed Oliโs play tower.
Jan then produces the party game he had brought with him, a version of โWould you ever?” The progression of the game tends to unravel each of the bubbling insecurities that have been simmering under the surface for all the characters. For Oli, he had been incensed because he believes no one respects him, and Kurtโs freeloading ways further hinder any privacy between him and Karo. It is further exacerbated by Karo remaining extremely busy with her career and not having any time for her husband, which leads to a memorable meltdown by Oli, where he dresses up as the elvish king in his favorite role-playing game and starts playing that, ignoring everyone else.
Meanwhile, the hostility between Jan and Mat reaches a fever pitch. Finding himself on far more established ground while playing โWho Would?”ย and slowly breaking away from the class division and finding himself on equal footing, Jan talks back against Matโs snide remarks, which finally boil over when he calls Mat a โbig mouthโ and refuses to apologize. Not content with taking this lying down, Mat invites Jan to a table tennis match, which Karo agrees to with a slight tweak: the men would play naked.
Thus, the game would be an intense match-up that would also double down as a literal and figurative dick-measuring contest and a beefcake appreciation contest for the women. The tennis match would initially be skewed towards Mat until Jan realized that his forehand is quite strong, even stronger than Matโs backhand, and that allowed him to push back and finally defeat Mat.
Upon losing the challenge, Mat has to drink a full bottle of hot sauce, which Jan looks at with glee and even enjoys when he witnesses Mat retching with pain upon the intense heat caused by the hot sauce. However, Pia scolds him, perturbed by the fact that Janโs competitive side slowly starts to take over Janโs gentle side. Upon her instruction, Jan tries to aid Mat by giving Mat a bottle of milk to chug down, which turns out to be breast milk that Karo had pumped and stored for her and Oliโs baby.
All the guests are now tired of the game night having devolved into a mess, but Pia and Jan now get into an argument where both of their insecurities bubble to the surface. Jan learns from an extremely weak Mat that Pia kissed him, and that raised Matโs hopes, which is why he attended Game Night. Jan finally gives voice to his insecuritiesโthat they had all won the monopoly of life and that there arenโt any bike stores in Monopoly.
Upon realizing and being unable to counter Piaโs logical point that Jan had โtaken a wrong turn somewhere,”ย Jan calls up Alex and informs him that they are leaving and that he should cease searching for the bird. This finally makes the guests cognizant of Alexโs presence and the fact that Helmut Kohl, Oliโs favorite cockatoo bird, is missing. Alex manages to rescue a bird in the meantime and has managed to strike up a conversation with Gabriela, but his hopes are dashed when Jan identifies that bird as a simple cockatoo.
Back outside, Jan and Alex find themselves without the key to Alexโs bike and walk back to the lawn belonging to the neighbor, and they manage to find themselves stuck in the same trap set for wild boars that Jan had managed to free Alex of once before. Now that both of them are stuck, they try to get out of this jam but soon find themselves face-to-face with Mr Piepler, the neighbor who dresses as a big game hunter. He reveals that he hunted the cockatoo down with a stun gun and also located the keys. Upon listening to their stories, he takes pity on them and frees them from the trap. Victorious, Jan, and Alex walk back to the house, expecting a heroโs welcome, only to find Kurt alone in the house.
They learn that in the middle of a revealing heart-to-heart conversation, Mat calls the group of friends. During the drive, Mat reveals his feelings for Pia before announcing his plans to climb into the Bengal Tiger enclosure at the Berlin Zoo so that he could prove capable of taming a predator. Realizing that he is serious, Pia and the rest of the gang drive over to stop him. Jan and Alex, reluctantly accompanied by Kurt, also cycle towards the zoo.
Blame the Game (Spieleabend, 2024) Movie Ending Explained:
How does Jan reconcile with Pia?
Pia, Karo, Oli, and Sheila reach the zoo and find Matโs car parked outside. Realizing that he had arrived there already, they clamber over the gate and walk over to the Bengal Tiger enclosure. In the middle of their search, they are met by Jan, Alex, and Kurt. Jan apologizes to Oli for completely disrupting their game night before revealing that Helmut Kohl is alive and well in Oliโs room.
The gang finds Matโs cell phone in the enclosure, and Jan takes on the arduous task of rescuing Mat from the Bengal tiger. When asked why the men always think they have to save the world, Jan replies that it is due to having something to prove. Jan slowly climbs down with the help of the rocks jutting out of the rockface. Finally climbing down, he pockets the phone before walking over and realizing that Mat isnโt in the enclosure and the tiger is asleep. Thus, he starts climbing upwards, only to realize that there isnโt any ledge strong enough for him to hold on to.
While the friends search for a rope to help him up, Jan apologizes to Pia about the night going badly, having panicked upon seeing Matthias and feeling that he would lose her. Pia then reminds him that this fear almost turned Jan into Matthias 2.0 before reassuring him that she regrets kissing Mat, but that kiss also proves that there arenโt any residual feelings felt. The reconciliation is cut short when the two of them realize that the tiger is behind Jan. As the tiger almost threatens to jump and drag Janโs body down, Kurt appears with a rope that he had apparently requested from the monkeys (whatever that means), and with the help of that rope, he pulls Jan out in the nick of time.
Itโs after the hullabaloo that they are met by Mat, who we learn hadnโt climbed into the enclosure at all. He had been mid-climb when he felt sick and had rushed over to vomit and find a bottle of water. Pia, too, agrees with Janโs assessment of Mat being a loudmouth. Sheila finally comes up to them, revealing that her ex-girlfriend had wanted to get back with her and had been confused, but Sheila has broken up with her.
The strangeness of that night leads to a lot of decisive thinking, where Oli finally reveals that he had been practicing dance with Gabriella so that he could surprise Karo. Touched and mellowed, Karo agrees to join Oli in his role-playing games if he agrees to dance lessons. She also decides to kick Kurt out of their house and have him find an apartment.
When Kurt asks Jan whether he could share a room, Jan is immediately rebuffed. After that night, he needs privacy with his girlfriend. The movie ends with Jan being surprised by Pia four weeks later when he learns that the game night will be set up at their apartment. He has found himself to be an integral part of that friend’s circle.
Blame the Game (Spieleabend, 2024) Movie Review:
The fun, raunchy comedy was destined to become a streaming service staple. One can even surmise the algorithm prompt about making a movie with a tonality similar to “Game Night.” Thus, the overall presentation, with the naming (Speileabend), a mostly glossy sheen, and humor consisting of slapstick and puns, feels very much like a modest encapsulation of a streaming serviceโs requirements.
However, what makes โBlame the Gameโ stand out is the writing, not just in the plotting but in the jokes and their mode of delivery. The movie chooses to decrease the scale and content so as not to go too overboard until the end, and even then, only CGI is used to develop the tiger in the enclosure. For the most part, the escalation of the bad night, as well as the handling of the two subplots, are effectively done, with callbacks and connections placed at the right moment.
The movieโs strength, though, lies in not forgetting the heart of the endeavorโthe romance between Jan and Pia, as well as the character dynamics of the rest of the friends circle along with Jan. Through that lens, director Marco Petry and writer Claudius Plaging don’t shy away from introducing the class division and disparity very overtly, with that disparity contributing to the insecurity with Janโs character that starts the domino effect for the progression through the night.
The glossy nature of the comedy, however, loses the specificity of the milieu in which the film is set. Perhaps thatโs by design; with the class division being overt enough, extrapolation about the world seems rather unnecessary. The subplot about the brother Kurt, as well as the subplot about Sheila, feel unnecessary. They donโt leave a mark on the film, but they donโt exactly contribute much to the narrative either. It also tries its hand at subversion by introducing the weird neighbor trope before showing its helpful nature.
When the maintenance of the status quo inadvertently becomes a form of subversion, that is fascinating initially because it is unexpected. But as time progresses and the movieโs simple pleasure is heard for a rewatch, this will feel naturally integrated into the narrative. The performances, especially by Axel Stein and Edin Hasanovic, are extremely effective in ensuring that โBlame the Gameโ manages to tickle your funny bone, irrespective of the language barrier or subtitles, and despite a few outlandish choices the film makes.
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