The movie business can get pretty cut-throat and weird, and so can a game of What The Film, a new card game from Lethal Chicken Games.
The premise of the game is fairly straightforward: Create a movie pitch out of the random set, plot, and character cards you are dealt. Each round, every player has 36 seconds to pitch his or her movie idea based on the cards, and all players vote for their favorite (just not their own).
This can be harder than it sounds, because the cards in your hand may not make the most traditional movie ideas. For example, you may find yourself pitching a movie based on the plot “forced to fight as a gladiator,” with a stay at home dad as a character and a board game convention as the setting. When pitching, players can use their imaginations to incorporate all three elements — adding as many funny (or serious) details as they want to help sell the hypothetical movie.
To add another level of challenge, there are also “industry” cards at play. At the beginning of each round, players get one new industry card, in addition to refilling their hand of seven set/plot/actor cards. These industry cards help shake things up — players can use them to get new cards, force their competitors to discard cards, steal points from the winning movie, and more. Perhaps the most fun industry cards are those requiring players to make their movie fit into a certain genre, such as romance or sci-fi.
For a lighter version of WTF, you could play without the industry cards. However, they do add a level of strategy and competition to the game.
(One tip: Be sure to keep the industry cards separate when playing and storing the game. All four types of cards have the same design on the back, making it a bit challenging to differentiate between them.)
Overall, this party game will be a fun time for any movie-loving or creative group of friends. Perhaps you’ll stumble upon an idea for the next great American film!
The game is available at Target.com for $24.99.
