Movie Type: Psychological Thriller, Paranoid Thriller
Themes: Mind Games
Main Cast: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger, James Rebhorn, Peter Donat
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 128 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Director David Fincher followed the success of his dark and atmospheric crime thriller Seven (1995) with another exercise in stylish film noir, this time lifting the pallid atmosphere a notch to indulge in a fast-paced trip through the cinematic funhouse. Michael Douglas plays Nicholas Van Orton, a Scrooge-like San Francisco investment banker following in his father's Scrooge-like footsteps. On Nicholas's 48th birthday (the age at which his father committed suicide), his younger, free-spirited brother Conrad (Sean Penn) blows into town and gives Nicholas a special gift for "the man who has everything" -- a ticket to CRS (Consumer Recreation Services), a company that constructs games custom-fit for each participant to provide, as CRS salesman Jim Feingold (James Rebhorn) cryptically puts it, "whatever is lacking." Nicholas's secure life begins a downhill slide as CRS masterminds a series of elaborate pranks, harmless at first, that quickly become malicious and life-threatening. Stripped of financial resources and convinced that he can trust no one, Nicholas begins to wonder if CRS is a front for a more covert operation, and if the game is in fact an attempt to steal his fortune and leave him for dead. Determined to fight back alone, Nicholas infiltrates CRS in order to "pull back the curtain and meet the wizard." ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
Review
Another superb thriller from the writing team behind The Net (1995) and director David Fincher, who once again turns even the most static, mundane sequences into visually arresting blitzkriegs of sound, motion, and composition. Michael Douglas is his typically solid self as a privileged, powerful white man whose old boy network entitlements are stripped away, a role he's played before and is starting to buff to a well-oiled sheen. He gets able supporting work from Sean Penn, who really only has two scenes in which he can shine, and Deborah Kara Unger as the under-realized love interest who, to be fair, really can't be better delineated without spoiling the surprise ending. The complex script folds in on itself in satisfying fashion, with a few glaring questions lingering (the result of a third act fall off a skyscraper begs some further explanation), but not to such a degree that the film is spoiled. Where the film achieves "underrated classic" status, however, is in Fincher's relentlessly interesting direction. He seems to combine the drive of Oliver Stone with the class and flair of Alfred Hitchcock, all funneled through the sensibilities of MTV and Generation X. Fincher has the artistic chops to be one of the top shooters alive, but he has the good grace and wisdom to let his script be his guide. The Game (1997) is, just like the film that would follow it, 1999's Fight Club, a superior genre film that deserves more respect. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Steven A. Saklad - Art Director, James Murakami - Supervising Art Director, Don Phillips - Casting, Michael Ferris - Co-producer, John Brancato - Co-producer, Michael Kaplan - Costume Designer, Yudi Bennett - First Assistant Director, David Fincher - Director, James Haygood - Editor, Jonathan Mostow - Executive Producer, Howard Shore - Composer (Music Score), Jeff Cronenweth - Camera Operator, Jeffrey Beecroft - Production Designer, Harris Savides - Cinematographer, Steve Golin - Producer, Cean Chaffin - Producer, Jackie Carr - Set Designer, Alan S. Kaye - Set Designer, Willie D. Burton - Sound/Sound Designer, Ren Klyce - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Ferris - Screenwriter, John Brancato - Screenwriter, Kevin Tod Haug - Visual Effects Supervisor
