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Review of "The Game"
By REMINGTON DAHL
The Remington Review


“Think of us as a psychological Book-of-the-Month Club,” says a customer service pro at Consumer Recreation Services, the mysterious corporation serving up the 48th birthday present that San Francisco investment banker Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) receives from his blacksheep brother Conrad (Sean Penn). C.R.S. supposedly tailors a unique, mind-jarring adventure “game” for each of its clients, and the one it invents for divorced millionaire Van Orton will either change his life or claim it.

The Game, written by The Net scribes John Brancato and Michael Ferris, largely overcomes the credibility problems raised by a number of scripting excesses on the strength of director David Fincher and an outstanding cast.

Like many filmmakers who earned their chops in video, Fincher is given to particularly glossy visual compositions. Yet, just as in his last film, Seven, such prettiness makes a suitably creepy companion for the dark sets and deranged framing found in The Game. (I was particularly struck by Van Orton’s lovely home-movie footage of his father, who committed suicide at age 48.)

Quick with his relatives and any employee who can’t match his brutal bottom line, Van Orton is the most custom-made role that Douglas has ever landed, and the actor wins a surprising amount of sympathy for his intolerably arrogant character. Once Van Orton finds himself trapped in deadly circumstances, we wonder along with him who’s really involved and what their motives might be.

Penn gets off some great lines as Conrad, a possible conspirator in a plot to take his brother’s wealth. (Strangely, the role was written with Jody Foster in mind.) Crash actress Deborah Kara Unger plays a waitress who likely is not a real waitress, but her motives are kept as unclear as Conrad’s.

Viewers will find themselves questioning The Game’s storytelling logic throughout, even after the credits roll. The premise is fun, but believing that an outside force of any kind could predict the behavior of someone reacting to events like those inflicted on Van Orton is an impossible stretch of faith. The movie’s many fantastic revelations prevent us from fully falling for its rather imaginative charms. (Rated R.)






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