The Game is ever so stylish and equally full of shit. If David Fincher or the screenwriter removed or covered over say a thousand unbelievable coincidences and amazing plot developments of convenience required to allow this film to reach its conclusion I would be a little more forgiving, but that would still leave a thousand unbelievable coincidences still outstanding… But Fincher proved with Fight Club that batshit crazy developments don’t dissuade him, and the success of that film proved millions are willing to go with him.
Nick Van Orton (Michael Douglas, at least they cast it right) is a tightly wound Wall Street business-douche thrown into a situation beyond belief after a sincere birthday gift from his unreliable younger brother Conrad (Sean Penn), who thinks it might give Nick a reality check and perhaps even some perspective about life. Or something.
The present is a ‘CRS’ gift voucher, CRS being a mysterious organisation of dubious origins and intentions. Nick cannot even uncover what the voucher entitles him to, nor will Conrad tell him beyond saying he has submitted himself to the CRS ‘product’.
Within days Nick finds himself embroiled in situations he never dreamed possible amid circumstances that appear out of all control and plausibility (I’m with you Nicky!), assisted at times by a waitress named Christine (Kara Unger – who in my notes I described as ‘looks like a cat’).
The Game will be as successful for you as you allow it. Unfortunately I checked out after the 37th coincidence, which took place in the 13th minute. It didn’t help that I’d seen the film some fifteen years ago in the cinema and carried the ‘big underwhelming twist’ with me ever since, but then how good is a film that only sorta works the first time you see it? I mean The Sixth Sense still rocks now on my tenth viewing and everyone knows how that bad boy ends.
The next bit might have spoilers I guess…
I just can’t willingly turn a blind eye to a plot that requires a cast of thousands working as a well oiled machine and a budget of millions, not to mention the coincidences, split second decisions and unbelievable timing by all parties. But lets pretend I could swallow that, what about either the ignorance and/or the co-operation of the city’s public services? Where the hell were the cops? The (real) ambulance? Who was in charge of making sure that TV ran that station at that time? Who made sure Nick was watching it?
These are cracks that one explanatory line at the end of the film can’t paper over, he’ll not even a 15 x 15 foot stunt bag could cover that, which was what the climactic scene expected us to believe was in the proper…
…oh forget it.
If you like The Game then well done. You have a control over your brain that I will obviously never have. Or maybe the opposite.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. There are many games that I can appreciate and ‘get’ but at the same time ‘don’t really get’ like others do. This film is just another example.
