Given that the setting is a suburban game night, it should be expected that this film plays plot-charades, mimicking themes of David Fincher’s The Game and the Steve Carell and Tina Fey rom-com Date Night while the audience tries to work out just what is going on.

The twists and turns (and fundamental premise) of The Game, paired with the “married couple thrown into an unusual scenario to find they had all they needed after all” trope from Date Night; it would’ve been quite easy for this film to be a forgettable re-hash of things we have seen before.

And while that may be partially true, it has to be said that a lot of fun is to be had along the way. The jokes land and importantly don’t drag on, the pacing is good and the film avoids the common modern-day cinema theme of being too long at a nice concise 100 minutes.

John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s direction is surprisingly fresh, especially for the team behind Horrible Bosses and Vacation, which are mediocre at best. There is the distinct impression that we are watching a video game play-through and a lot of the sound design has a distinctly 8-bit feel, which makes it more engaging than a run-of-the-mill post Oscar’s action-comedy – a helpful distraction for some of the more ridiculous moments.

There is an element of bagginess to the plot, and towards the third act, the attempts at Shyamalan scale plot twists get messy and tiresome but the cast get you through it. There are no signs of phone-in performances and Rachel McAdams (Annie) in particular is vibrant and has excellent timing. No-one in the ensemble of main characters gets left behind, nor are there scenes that you wish would just finish.

Let’s call a spade a spade; this is a forgettable film. It won’t change your life or make you suspicious of what’s real and what’s not – Fincher’s thriller is the film for that). But it is an enjoyable experience and one that will likely get you thinking about the last time you played charades.