Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (who played Sam, Lindsay Weir’s nerdy little brother in Judd Apatow’s small-but-perfectly-formed TV series Freaks and Geeks), this surprisingly zingy, throwback studio comedy is witty and observant on the dynamics between couples. Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman are Annie and Max, a competitive, board games-obsessed couple who are struggling to conceive. It’s a blow to Max’s ego when his sexy, wealthy older brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) zips into town in a flashy red corvette to attend their weekly game night and even worse when he decides to throw his own murder mystery party in an act of smug one-upmanship. (“Sibling rivalry can be very powerful,” deadpans the couple’s fertility doctor.)

At the party, the teammates are joined by childhood sweethearts Michelle (Kylie Bunbury) and Kevin (Lamorne Morris), good-natured meathead Ryan (Billy Magnussen), and his sardonic Irish date Sarah (Sharon Horgan), but not their weirdo neighbour Gary (Jesse Plemmons, stealing the show as a solemn, dog-clutching cop who dreams of being invited to play). The evening becomes no fun and all games when they discover that Brooks’s elaborate setup has real – and dangerous – consequences. A visit to “Eyes Wide Fight Club” and an amusing cat-and-mouse chase in pursuit of a Fabergé egg are very funny, and McAdams is on riotously good form as the doggedly ambitious Annie, clearly having a ball in her zestiest comic role since the career-making Mean Girls.