Movies On Netflix: ‘Game Over, Man!’ Is Continued Proof That Netflix Should Stick To Original Series
If you’re looking for funny movies on Netflix, you should probably scroll past Game Over, Man! Unlike their original series, which includes a litany of award-winning titles, Netflix original movies have been largely panned by both critics and audiences alike, and Game Over, Man! is the latest to join that list. According to Polygon, in 2016, Netflix CFO David Wells revealed that the company’s ultimate goal is to have half of their hosted programming be original content. Some think this is the reason that Netflix seemingly backs or produces any type of film, regardless of quality. Game Over, Man! is just more fodder for this theory.
What makes this movie so disappointing is that given the filmmakers and cast involved, Game Over, Man! could have been really good. Directed by Kyle Newacheck (Workaholics writer) and Anders Holm (Workaholics creator), who also co-stars, the film features a stunning cast: Adam Devine, Blake Anderson, Daniel Stern, and a cornucopia of cameos with actors portraying themselves, including Steve-O, Donald Faison, Fred Armisen, Shaggy, Joel McHale, and Mark Cuban (among others).
With a score of zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes, the site provides the premise for one of the worst movies on Netflix.
“During a star-studded Los Angeles party, three zeroes become heroes (sort of) when the hotel they work at is taken hostage by bad guys.”
Basically, it’s Die Hard blended with Workaholics. And that concept sounds like a blast, but it’s anything but. So, with such a talented cast and crew, how did this end up being one of the most widely panned movies on Netflix? Well, it’s not 2002.
The film feels like an irreverent comedy that we would have seen in the early 2000s—movies like Orange County, Van Wilder, Scary Movie, American Pie and the like—where full frontal male nudity, crude language, phallic obsessed jokes, and characters hiding their homosexuality from their friends (only to come out and be accepted) was a new thing.
These ingredients can still work in modern movies as they did in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, but it takes more than just shock-and-awe to impress audiences these days. It takes excellent delivery, and that’s what Game Over, Man! lacks.
The film is at its best when it’s showing the self-portrayed actors being held hostage. The movie is at its worst during any other scene. The filmmakers seem more concerned about showing Devine’s member (which is shown in such great detail that they lose the comedic effect that they were going for) than they are with writing original jokes or making rehashed humor feel fresh.
Similar to Netflix movies featuring Adam Sandler, regardless of the talented cast and crew involved, the punchlines miss the mark nearly every time (aside from a few that, at best, might make you chuckle). Because of a lack of originality, jokes that land with a thud, rehashed humor from better films from years gone by, and an absence of almost anything funny, Game Over, Man! is one of the most disappointing movies on Netflix.
