Warning! Spoilers to follow for Game Night. Come back later if you haven't seen it yet.
The new comedy Game Night has a number of very funny running jokes that are strung across the film, but one of the most amusing is featured in the conflict between Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury's characters, Kevin and Michelle. While the two are childhood sweethearts, it's revealed early in the movie that she slept with a celebrity at one point in their relationship, and he then obsesses about trying to figure out who it was. Eventually it's revealed that Michelle slept with a Denzel Washington look-a-like, but I recently learned from the two stars that there were other ideas that were almost used:
Lamorne Morris: I think it was Jamie Foxx at one point.Kylie Bunbury: But originally it was supposed to be that I had sex with Glenn Close.Lamorne Morris: Yeah, it was Glenn Close. And then I remember when they were going to do the reshoots there was a lot of conversations about, 'Hey Lamorne, can you do a Jamie Foxx impression?' And I was like, 'Why?' And they were like, 'Because we're considering doing Jamie Foxx.'Kylie Bunbury: I didn't even know that!Lamorne Morris: Yeah, but it was going to be for-real him. It was going to be like all these things they were playing around with when they were going to do the reshoot.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury during the Los Angeles press day for Game Night earlier this month, and is was while diving into spoiler territory that I learned details about a version of the film that audiences didn't get to see this past weekend. Specifically asking about the running joke that plays out between their characters, I asked if there were any alternate ideas that were tossed around that didn't make the final cut. It turns out that the answer was yes, and that both Glenn Close and Jamie Foxx were both considered as alternate punchlines for the gag.
In the version of Game Night that is heading to theaters, Michelle finally admits to Kevin who she slept with while they were on a break in their relationship -- but it doesn't exactly go as she expected. While she has spent years thinking that she had sex with Denzel Washington, Kevin has to break the bad news to her that she merely had sex with a guy that looked like Denzel Washington. This pays off a second time in the end credits, as there is a quick scene of the same guy getting into a car with Debbie, Gary's ex-wife, but apparently this wasn't featured until after the movie did some reshoots and changed the punchline.
Do you think Game Night went with the right joke for Kevin and Michelle's relationship, or do you think that the alternates with Glenn Close or Jamie Foxx could have been funnier? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts, and with any luck we'll be able to see these different versions of the movie when the comedy arrives on Blu-ray and DVD in a few months.
