Movie Review – The Game

The Game (1997) – Wealthy and emotionally remote San Francisco financier Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) gets a strange birthday present from wayward brother Conrad (Sean Penn): a live-action game that consumes his life.

So, it turns out I reviewed this movie before.  I had no memory of that (which is probably not a good thing for this review) but the concept fascinated me.  After seeing the movie and realizing that it was familiar I went back and checked.  Low and behold, there it was, February of last year.  It was interesting to read the old review after seeing it again.


I will certainly agree with the complaint about typical psychological thriller movie tropes (endless gunfire that seems to get no attention, people who appear and disapper, sometimes in large numbers).  On the other hand they are part and parcel of the genre.  This time I dropped them into the “willing suspension of disbelief” bin and just leaned back for the ride.  


I enjoyed it a lot more this time.


The story plays with the reaction of an emotionally stunted banking mogul who is thrust into an environment that appears to be completely beyond his control.  When the world is not leaping at his every demand he discovers that he’s not quite as tough as he always believed.  The story moves at lightning speed and sweeps you and Douglas’s character along.

I still like the small roles for ormer movie bombshell Carroll Baker appears as Douglas’s housekeeper and veteran newsman Daniel Schorr as himself.  Schorr is one of the fun moments in the movie, not sure why I didn’t like it last time.


Overall, the movie hits on all the cylinders that a psychological thriller should.  Ignore the silly stuff and enjoy the fun. The ending comes several minutes too late and I still think it’s rather lame.


So I’ll bump this one up just a half star.


Rating – ***1/2