The Game (1997)

The ending tells it all.

Great movie! Most of the reviews indicate that most people see this as a movie about a man who plays life changing wild game given as a gift from a brother who also benefited from playing the game. It's really about a rich guy who never understood why his father committed suicide at the age of 48. On his own 48th birthday he finds himself rich, but alone, miserable, depressed, and wondering how much he might be like his father, heading in the same direction (maybe toward suicide). His brother, knowing his rigid, responsible, analytical, no fun nature and that he's miserable in spite of his wealth, tries to help him by giving him an unusual but life changing gift, "The Game".

The story is great fun to follow, but the climactic ending is about how the man finally is driven to the brink of sanity playing this game, and falls (jumps) from a building to end the torment. When he ends up safe and actually at the expected outcome of the game, he realizes it was all to teach him 2 things in such a dramatic way as to change his life: An understanding of why his father could be driven to suicide which he has struggled to understand all his life since his father killed himself. That is, pressures, events, depression can take someone over the edge. And, that all his wealth and life situation are tenuous, that he can now relax, not be so rigid and serious and begin to enjoy life again before it's too late.

That his brother really loved/cared about him so much to give this thing as a gift, knowing/hoping it could help him so profoundly, and his ex-wife also still deeply caring about him also involved in the game. We never find out how much the game cost the brother, but you figure it's gotta be perhaps millions. Don't try to pick the movie apart as being too unrealistic. Of course something like this could never happen. A movie doesn't have to be real to be thoroughly enjoyed, and know this is just a great story with a lesson. Isn't that what movies are supposed to be?

Again, I thought the movie was intriguing, amazing and thought provoking, one of my top 10 of all time. September 24, 2008

suspend disbelief and enjoy

Michael Douglas completely dominates "The Game", with nobody else, even Sean Penn, appearing in major minutes. He goes from the "Greed is Good" style investment banker, rich but alone, to a harried victim of "The Game", struggling to decide what is going on, and perhaps struggling for survival. Douglas' versatility is on solid display here, and he gets fine backup from the others.

I watched this the day after Batman ("Dark Knight") and enjoyed this one more, except for Heath Ledger as "Joker". The action moves more swiftly and the script is tighter than Batman's, played more around the edges, even though Batman films are also dark. The film's goal was achieved: I was confused and wondering whether the "game" had really become an elaborate con with theft and murder involved.

My advice is to try ignoring the huge plot holes and implausibilities while watching. "How could they do that?" or "How could they know Nicholas would do that?" are fair questions, although not essential and not helpful. I don't know if the director is trying to claim our lives, even for a sophisticated person such as Nicholas, are so predictable. I would be depressed to experience a sequence of events such as these, where I was both easily controlled and easily anticipated, especially by people who didn't even know me before. The film's climax involving a building's rooftop is a fitting example. July 19, 2008

One of the best mindbenders Hollywood has offered.

From start to finish, The Game is full of action, adventure, mind bending twists and turns.
Douglas shines in this role, the typical rich arrogant executive; he gets sucked into something called the Game.
Douglas, not really sure what the Game is, decides to go for it.
Pretty soon his entire life starts to unravel.
It's uncomfortable in places to watch, and is EXTREMELY unrealistic.
Only Hollywood could make us believe something like this could actually happen in real life.
Brilliant acting, great direction and an awesome script make The Game another must see.
Highly recommended.
June 23, 2008

Fincher's sort of prequel to Fight Club

In the Game director David Fincher would introduce many of the same themes he would expand upon in his next film Fight Club. Both films tell the tale of wealthy but bored men who feel dead inside, they don't feel like they belong or have any connection with anyone. Both men decide that they need a life changing experience to shake them out of their apathy and get them to start living again. In the case of the Game that lost man is Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) a multimillionaire who oversees a publishing company. On his forty eight birthday he gets a mysterious gift from his younger and irresponsible brother Conrad (Sean Penn). The gift is actually a gift card to a shadowy company called CRS and Nicholas has his reservations. He happens upon their headquarters by chance and is subjected to a barrage of mental and physical tests before he is even accepted. One of my favorite character actors James Rebhorn plays the man behind CRS Dr. Feingold. All Feingold will tell an inquisitive Nicholas is " Admit to yourself that it sounds interesting. We provide what is lacking in your life." Soon Nicholas's game begins and he finds his life in danger almost immediately. This film which could also be a sort of precursor to the Saw films as well has no graphic violence the torture is all psychological. Nicholas is haunted by the memory of his father who killed himself on Nicholas's birthday over thirty years ago and the fact that he was Nicholas's age when he did it weighs heavy on his mind. He wonders how much of his father is in him. Conrad who has battled drug addiction will only tell Nicholas that he too has played the Game and that he has never felt better. " They make your life fun again." is what he tells his younger brother. Nicholas does get some help in the form of Kathleen (Deborah Kara Unger) a waitress he meets along the way and who may know more about the Game than she lets on to Nicholas. The film has a fantastic ominous mood enhanced by the cinematography of Harris Savides and especially a jangling piano score from Howard Shore. To reveal too much of what happens to Nicholas during his Game would take away from several scenes that play like a nightmare. I loved the acting and the feel of the film but had a problem with the ending. I didn't find it completely believable and a little too convenient. Still the film is very good and Douglas in the lead does an amazing job as he slowly begins to unravel. His whole world is turned upside down in the course of this film and his realization at the ending while not entirely believable is still well acted throughout. The DVD features two trailers and notes on the cast and crew. April 24, 2008

Long, but very entertaining.

I had to study the films of David Fincher last semester and did not know anything about his work except he had directed Fight Club. When the week rolled around which featured The Game, I was "puzzled" as to how this movie will unfold. To my delight, it was very thrilling and Hitchcock-esque in nature. If you're a true fan of Hitchcock, you'll enjoy this. March 29, 2008

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