The Game (1997)
A movie review by Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1997 by Michael J. Legeros
(Polygram)
Directed by David Fincher
Written by John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris, and Andrew Kevin
Walker
Cast Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger, James
Rebhorn, Anna Katerina, Armin Mueller-Stahl
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for violence and profanity)
Running Time 128 minutes
Reviewed at Mission Valley Cinemas, Raleigh, NC (12SEP97)
==
Michael Douglas is back in the genre that best becomes him, as an emotionally aloof investment banker whose meticulously controlled uni- verse begins to unravel after he accepts a birthday gift from his lower-living brother (Sean Penn). Said gift is a game-- an elaborate, anything-can-happen mindfuck that's custom fit to the recipient's physical and psychological states. What's the objective? What exactly is supposed to happen? No one is willing to talk. Not the former players, not the game's administrators, and not even the CNN financial reporter that begins talking to Douglas' character through the tele- vision set in his living room! Get the idea? Frankly, I found THE GAME to be a bit of a bore. Somewhere between the intriguing opening and the richly satisfying final act, my eyes began to glaze over. Maybe it's the pacing-- twists and turns that come a little too fast to be fully savored. Maybe it's the sterility of the events and how nothing *real- ly* sinister happens for an awfully long time. Or, maybe it's just my overactive imagination, which was busy trying to fit what I already knew about the movie-- admittedly too much to begin with-- into the right box inside of the right box inside of the right box. Douglas is great. Director David Fincher (SEVEN, ALIEN 3) is great. Tech credits are superb. All that's missing is the disclaimer: "foreknowledge of this movie may hamper its enjoyment."
Grade: B
-- Mike Legeros - Movie Hell http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell/
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