The Game - Not Worth Playing by Homer Yen (c) 1997
In the uppermost echelon of society, you would probably find someone like Nicholas Van Orton (played by a staunch Michael Douglas). Successful investment banker and multi-millionaire, he is certainly not wanting for anything that is material. After all, he owns a lavishly decorated palatial mansion, a top-of-the-line BMW, and works in the Van Orton building in a part of downtown where property values soar. In a sense, he is a man who has everything. Unfortunately, materialism is all that he is interested in. Cold-hearted and discompassionate, he is only interested in the bottom line and increasing shareholder value, even if it means firing people on a moment's notice. So inflexible is he that even his wife is forced to leave him. He is the Scrooge of the 90s.
One day, his brother Conrad (manic Sean Penn) pays Nicholas a visit to wish him a happy birthday. He ponders, "What do you give to a man that has everything?" Conrad, a recovering addict, seems to always be on the verge of a breakdown. But he claims that he's a changed man because of something he tried...something sold by a mysterious company called CRS...something that will "change your life." He urges Nicholas to experience it as his birthday gift.
The movie now begins to position itself as a psychological-mystery thriller. Things odd and haunting start to happen. Did that CNN anchorman just mention Van Orton's name over the airwaves? Why did that pen leak when it did? Is that bum begging for money for a hidden reason? Significance or coincidence? Hmm... Nicholas is given enigmatic clues and mysterious keys. He becomes inexorably drawn into a dangerous game where the rules are not apparent, and where he can never tell if he's being put through a gag or if his life is in real danger. Immense paranoia begins to creep in as he begins to scrutinize everything from strangers to friends, open bottled water to even the sincerity of his brother.
Questions constantly pop into his mind. Is this really some game? Is Conrad doing something nefariously evil? Who can he really trust? Is Nicholas just going insane? It seems like everyone is against him, and Nicholas learns through sadistic victimization just how cunning and shrewd CRS is. And as the movie progresses through its maze-like plot, they begin to strip him of everything, from his $4000 suit to his financial reserves to his dignity and finally his own identity. But nothing can conquer his will to survive, and using his own cunning and intelligence, and some impressive detective work, he begins to piece together the puzzle in order to retake his life.
But, herein lies the problem. The Game is a movie that's been broken apart into pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle. You think that one piece fits, but then find out it doesn't. There are twists and turns almost every 10 minutes. When you think you've advanced, you run into a dead end. But it's up to Douglas to fit those pieces together, and depending on whether you like being kept in the dark a lot, we're seeing it all happen through his eyes.
I appreciated the way in which The Game tried to keep viewers riveted to the screen, urging the viewer to look for anything that might have been a tangible clue. This is also a handsome piece of film making as we see the god-like Douglas gradually diminish into the background of San Francisco's mystique. And, I liked Douglas's alpha-male personality. Douglas is in every scene and never drops his intensity or focus. The supporting cast and the eerie lead female who gives Douglas hints into what's going on are equally good. But while it's sometimes edgy, the conclusions are letdowns. And while there are surprises galore, you become annoyed with the way the story yo-yos back and forth.
Also, despite Nicholas's increasing jadedness and growing disdain and fury, things work out disturbingly and incongruously well. Ultimately, the writers seem to lack the convictions of their material, and work way too hard to resurrect Douglas in the last 15 minutes of the film, causing a very abrupt detour and a very sour ending. What could have been a unique psychological thriller is reduced to a post-modern "It's a Wonderful Life." I don't know about you, but I've seen that movie way too many times. I was not particularly intrigued with this offering. The Game provides the satisfaction of outmaneuvering a better opponent at Chess, musters the fill-in-the-blank allure of poker but gives the stop-and-go action of Chutes and Ladders. The Game toys with you, but you don't get the reward that you deserve.
Grade: C
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews