Masked toughs, who may or may not be part of an elaborate game, crash the event the night goes violently awry. Pop Culture Happy Hour 'Game Night' Is Winningĭeeply competitive married couple Max and Annie (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams) host a weekly game night with friends. She had previously made sharp small films, but nothing suggesting she would create an epic of such sweep and social resonance. Director Nadine Labaki never called 'Action!' on her 'set' (more or less the whole of Beirut) so that her cast of nonactors wouldn't feel a separation between their real and 'reel' lives. Zain is a 12-year-old street kid who sues his parents for bringing him into a world where they can't care for him. Had Charles Dickens lived in contemporary Beirut, he might have created this wrenching but hopeful tale. Grant as her friend and accomplice, Can You Ever Forgive Me? gives McCarthy one of her best roles and examines a very New York kind of isolation. Based on Israel's memoir and co-starring Richard E. Director Marielle Heller and screenwriters Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty ensure that despite Israel's crimes, it is easy to understand her frustration at the cruelty of publishing. Melissa McCarthy is outstanding as Lee Israel, a writer who, falling on hard times, becomes a forger of collectible literary letters from Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward and many others.

Pop Culture Happy Hour Melissa McCarthy's New Signature Role: 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?'

Npr best movies 2017