Game Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 2018 film Game Night directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams. The film score is composed by Cliff Martinez, in his first score for a comedy film. The album was released through WaterTower Music on February 16, 2018.
Contents
Background
In September 2017, it was announced that Cliff Martinez would compose the score for Game Night. Martinez stated that he wanted to write a score for a comedy for a long time but could not get such opportunities. When he was offered to score Game Night, he watched Vacation and the first two Horrible Bosses films, liking the work of Goldstein and Daley. The directors invited him to Atlanta to watch the shooting so that Martinez could provide the ideas for the score.
Martinez noted that his music from the television series The Knick served as the influence of Game Night, which he felt that the "colossal, latent comic potential" had been wrapped up in to the score. The directors intended that they wanted a synth score as it evoked the moody fun of 1980s which takes place in one night, and this modernized approach was an exciting part of the film. The score was partly recorded at Martinez's homestay in Moonglow Ranch in California while the orchestra was recorded at the Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage in Burbank.
Reception
Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter called it a "propulsive electronic score". Andrew Parker of TheGATE.ca called it a "surprisingly intense musical score." Brian Gallagher of MovieWeb wrote "Another thing that surprised me was the phenomenal score by Cliff Martinez (Drive)... not that it was phenomenal, but merely that he scored a movie like this, with directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein mentioning during the Q&A that this was the composer's first ever comedy." Jack Pooley of WhatCulture wrote "Martinez's score is especially effective during the action sequences: the opening set-piece where Brooks is "taken", leading to genuinely brutal fight scene, is all the more intense thanks to the composer's pulsing synth work."
Hannah Strong of Little White Lies wrote "a banging Cliff Martinez synth extravaganza blasts away in the background". Josh Spiegel of /Film wrote "The Cliff Martinez score feels less apropos to a wacky comedy, and closer to something like his work in Drive or Spring Breakers." Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post called it a "propulsive and tense electronic score". A. A. Dowd of The A.V. Club called it a "a sinewy Cliff Martinez thriller score". Joe Reid of Decider wrote "In a development you’re almost certainly not prepared for, Game Night features what is hands-down one of the best film scores of the year, a synth-y, propulsive soundtrack by Drive composer Cliff Martinez. Give it a listen — you will not be disappointed."
Personnel
Credits adapted from WaterTower Music: