I love games of all kinds, I adore underdog stories, and I'm a sucker for films about ragtag groups forming families. So why is it that Good Game feels like such a chore?

As with any good sports movie, we start with our arrogant hero at their lowest point. Solo is a jerk, no two ways about it. He's more trouble than he's worth, so he gets booted from his failing e-sports team just before a major tournament. At thirty-something, he's basically too old for the sport anyway, so no team will have him.

Despondent, he checks into a gaming cafe to let out some steam. There, he meets the hustling father and daughter duo Tai and Fay, who have yet to meet a grift they didn't like. Luckily, they're a bit more likeable than Solo, who remains an unmitigated ass for the entire film.

After some barely comedic back and forth, Tai and Fay convince Solo to join their e-sports team for the tournament. Everyone needs the money, most of all Tai, who is at risk of losing his cafe. They're joined by Octo, a former movie star, who now plays to keep his wife alert and excited, and hopefully to slow down her dementia. Out of all the characters, their story is the most affecting, and should have been the highlight of the movie.

The rest of the film follows every sports movie trope to the letter. Despite a few occasional good gags, director Dickson Leung Kowk-Fai can't find the right pacing or rhythm for his film. It's not because of a lack of effort, either. There is a lot going on in every frame, not least in the games themselves, which Leung animates as real-life combat scenarios full of fantastic powers and anime-style editing.

But we're never explained the rules of the game, or even given an inkling of what any of it means. The setup is some kind of a hero shooter, though it feels like the rules shift as the plot needs them to. There's a lot of shouting about rules and committees monitoring the games, yet none of that drama translates because the basic foundations are lacking.

The characters don't help matters. They're all big and loud and very broad in their performances, even when the story doesn't need them to be. It's clear they're having fun, yet it doesn't translate off the screen to the auditorium. Instead, it becomes tiring to watch everyone flail and do extremely broad pratfalls.

Luckily, Good Game doesn't always go where you'd expect it, and even though the slapdash ending comes out of nowhere, it is at least novel. I get the feeling that another polish or two of the script, and a tigher edit on top, would have made all the difference.

Now, it's just and just charming enough to warrant a single viewing. But a new timeless sports classic this is not.