Because Kevin Hart just can’t sit still during the pandemic — despite the fact that his wife Eniko is pregnant with their second child and Kevin’s fourth. So, three weeks ago, E! greenlit a one-off game show special produced by Hart and hosted by both him and Eniko. Celebrity Game Face is the result; a remotely-produced game show where Hart gets three celebrity friends and their significant others to do crazy stunts for charity… and the privilege of getting the “Hart of a Champion” trophy (“Hart” of a champion… get it?)
CELEBRITY GAME FACE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The couples are Joel McHale and his wife Sarah McHale, Sarah Hyland and her fiance Wells Adams, and Terry Crews and his wife Rebecca King-Crews. All of them communicate with the Harts on their computers via Zoom or equivalent, with some enhanced video and sound equipment mixed in. In every round, the couples earn points and the winners get the trophy.
In the first game, the couples each reveal a secret, and the other two have to figure out which member of the couple the secret is about. For instance, either Terry or Rebecca got their jaw broken in eight places and had it wired shut. In the second game, one member of a couple has to read from a list of names while having a number of large marshmallows stuffed in their mouths, while the other member has to guess the words. In the third game, one member of the couple has to bid on how many balloons the other can sit on and pop in 15 seconds, with the winning bidder actually required to complete the task.
In the fourth game, the couple has to mix spaghetti, sauce and cheese in a bowl, then eat it, while only using tiny doll hands. The first one to finish the bowl wins. Next, Hart brings in dancers Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker to judge a game where one member of the couple has to describe three popular TikTok dance moves while the other member tries to act it out. Finally, for all the marbles, Hart sends the couples running through their homes on a scavenger hunt to find answers to semi-cryptic clues, like something that’s six inches long and vibrates, that you put in your mouth.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of?: Not even sure how to answer this one. Beat The Clock, maybe, but with celebrities all sitting in their living rooms?
Performance Worth Watching: Joel McHale, as is his wont, throws his deadpan shade all over the place, making fun of Kevin’s height and busting Terry for his huge house. But he and Sarah are very capable players, especially during the marshmallow contest. Also, we need to give Sarah Hyland credit for admitting she peed on subway tracks during the first game.
Memorable Dialogue: It’s not really dialogue, but seeing Sarah and Wells’ dog nose its way in as the two of them are cramming down spaghetti using doll hands, then seeing Wells dash to the bathroom was one of the highlights of the hour.
Sex and Skin: Aside from McHale’s long legs sticking out of his short shorts, not much.
Our Take: Let’s face it, the idea of Celebrity Game Face isn’t exactly highbrow; it’s Kevin Hart getting his celebrity friends to do silly things, mainly to benefit charity but also because no one has anything else to do right now (and it seems especially appropriate since California is locking back down after a spike in COVID cases). But it’s a genuinely laugh-out-loud hour because the four couples are so relaxed, and they have no problems busting on one another as well as being completely silly-looking on TV.
The funniest scenes were the tiny Hyland, all by herself after her fiance bailed to the bathroom, gunning down mouthfulls of spaghetti all by herself, getting sauce on her glasses in the process, Crews busting balloons with his rock-hard tush, and pretty much anything involving McHale. We also appreciated Eniko Hart’s role, which was to sit by Kevin’s side and laugh her ass off at these friends doing these wacky things.
But all the significant others were game to play along, and that also helped the enjoyment of the show. It felt like four couples sitting around someone’s house having a Game Night, drinking beer and wine, joking around and laughing. And that warm, light feeling is basically something most of us need right now.
We could see this being the basis of a series of specials going forward, especially if lockdowns continue for a long time and production of shows is left to be done remotely.
Our Call: STREAM IT. If you just need a good laugh at people being silly, then Celebrity Game Face should take your mind off all the other crap going on in the world, at least for an hour.
METACRITIC SCORE: 70
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.
Stream Celebrity Game Face On EOnline.com
Source: Newzandar News
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