[4] Produced by Duhamel, Michael J. Luisi, and Weng, the film centers on a group of six friends that reunite after a five-year hiatus to engage in a challenging set of dares and games and help lift one of their own out of depression and also have a chance of winning $150,000 while doing so.

The project was originally announced in June 2017 as a deal with WWE Studios, with the cast joining shortly thereafter and filming commencing two months later in Vancouver.

Every year Bob and his friends compete in the "Buddy Games", a series of obstacles meant to bring them closer together.

The first day of the games includes an eating competition, a race on mini motorcycles, a water slide, a mud crawl, and a watermelon smash.

Bob wins the first leg of the competition because Shelly misses the finishing line flag which is placed in the air after the water slide.

Bob, Doc and Zane search for Durfy and upon finding him, convince him that he should continue acting by encouraging him to perform an impromptu scene.

In the morning, Shelly destroys Bender's van (a gift from his late mother which he has been living in) by crashing it into a tree as revenge for shooting him.

[4] The casting of Sheamus and Nick Swardson was announced in June 2017,[4] with Kevin Dillon, Dax Shepard, Olivia Munn, James Roday Rodriguez, and Dan Bakkedahl joining two months later.

[8] Cath Clarke of The Guardian gave the film one out of five stars, and described it as "a buddy gross-out movie that's unfunny and offensive in equal measures.

"[9] Richard Roeper, from The Chicago Sun-Times, rated it one out of four stars, and wrote that the film's "middle-aged, self-absorbed clowns are so repugnant and uninteresting and small-minded and awful, they make the gang from Tag look like the Knights of the Round Table," adding that it is a "legit contender for worst movie of 2020".

[10] Johnny Oleksinski, for the New York Post, gave it zero stars out of four, and strongly criticized its lack of character development and pervasive toxic masculinity, concluding that "Buddy Games leaves you feeling dead inside.

"[11] The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck criticized the film as a "paean to arrested male adolescence", and faulted the screenwriters for sacrificing actual comedy for excessive gags, though he added that Bakkedahl delivered an "undeniably vanity-free, no-holds-barred performance".

[12] Mick LaSalle, from The San Francisco Chronicle, gave a more positive assessment of the movie, writing, "It has a wicked sense of comedy that occasionally is quite funny", but once the games begin anew, it becomes "mere spectacle".