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Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger, James Rebhorn, Peter Donat ... see more see more... , Carroll Baker , Anna Katarina , Armin Mueller-Stahl , Tommy Flanagan , Harrison Young , Spike Jonze , George Maguire (I)

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 indul... read more read more...ge 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, Rovi

Flixster Users

82% liked it

118,718 ratings

Critics

71% liked it

49 critics

R, 2 hr. 8 min.

Directed by: David Fincher

Release Date: September 12, 1997

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DVD Release Date: June 6, 2000

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Stats: 6,098 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (6,098)

  • DragonEyeMorrison
    December 2, 2011
    DragonEyeMorrison
    It's the movie everyone should be watching instead of Fight Club. Like that one this is about a man who discovers how hollow and empty his life has been, but he doesn't go out and start a cult, he gets the carpet pulled under him to make him realize that we shouldn't take for gra... read morented a lot of things in life.
  • ironclad1609
    November 30, 2011
    ironclad1609
    While not as evil as Se7en and not as trippy as Fight Club this is still pure David Fincher excellence. Like Michael Douglas while playing the game (or being played by the game?) the audience also has no clue what is going on, as the plot is playing with expectations and plot twi... read morests just to solve it all in the most surprising and yet only logic solution. A very smart and convincing thriller with stylized images of paranoia and confusion. Far from Fincher's best, but it already says a lot when his less perfect works are such excellent movies.
  • DreamExtractor
    September 1, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    The Game is a mind bending and incredible thriller, and is just another reason David Fincher is one of the best directors in cinema. The plot is one of the most intense, mind bending, and incredible plots ever told, you cannot miss one minute or else you will be totally lost, wh... read moreat a beautifully made script. The cast is incredible, Michael Duglas is a one of a kind actor in almost all his films, and he plays his part so well that I felt like I was becoming more insane with the game as he is. The score was amazing, it was at every right moment and it made the films intense moments a lot better. The cinematography is also great, very nicely done. The game is not just another David Fincher film, its a intense and great thriller that toys with your mind, and it migh be in the ranks mind bending films such as Inception, Memento, or Zodiac (another Fincher film), and The Game is truly one of a kind.
  • superjoker1
    June 27, 2011
    superjoker1
    This is a brilliant movie. It's riveting, creative, and inspiring. A healthy balance of mystery, suspense, and humor are sure to keep you entertained. Michael Douglas is great, and so is David Fincher's direction and the creepy score. You will feel everything the film makers want... read more you to feel exactly when they want you to feel it.
  • emilebond007
    April 8, 2011
    emilebond007
    This was pretty deceiving because of its several plotholes and unconvincing ending, but I was watching this for David Fincher and his direction didn't disappoint one bit, although we feel he was given the project as a command and wasn't originally set to direct. We see that he ha... read mores put a lot more interest and attention to Se7en and Fight Club, two other of his films of the '90s. The screenplay itself isn't bad but it decided to completely forget its plotholes in order to make this unrealistic storyline see the end and the whole thing is compensated by Fincher's work, which builds the tension as few other directors manage to. Plus, Michael Douglas gives here a terrific performance.
  • MrMarakai
    April 1, 2011
    MrMarakai
    Following up the magnificent, visceral serial killer thriller "Se7en" was always going to be a hard task for director David Fincher but with this, he opts for an equally dark, yet more playful, mind-fuck thriller.
    Egotistical, successful businessman Nicholas Van Orton (Michael D... read moreouglas) gets an unusual birthday present from his brother Conrad (Sean Penn) - a gift certificate for a sophisticated recreational company that stages a 'game,' the nature of which is never revealed. Before long, Nicholas' entire existence is torn apart as he desperately clings to his life and his sanity.
    First off, this film has got plot holes aplenty but if you give yourself over to it and suspend your disbelief, this is a very enjoyable edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller. Fincher knows what he doing and wrings out the suspense at every turn. The twists and turns of the plot are so relentless that it's easy to identify with the desperation of Douglas' character.
    Admittedly, I'm not his biggest fan but Douglas is absolutely superb in this. He captures the arrogance and egotistical nature he portrayed before, from his Oscar winning signature role 'Gordon Gekko' in "Wall Street" and couples it with a fragile vulnerability. The unravelling of his character is masterful and he delivers a very entertaining performance that just about manages to take your mind of the sheer implausability of the story. Like "Se7en", Fincher's ability to craft an environment that's dark and depressing is once again captured, helped by subtly excellent cinematographer Harris Savides. There is a gloomy air of dread throughout and nothing ever seems natural, adding to the sense of unease as 'the game' unfolds. By the time the end credits roll and the final revelation is delivered, you'll feel as exhausted as Douglas looks.
    It doesn't take much to realise the whole thing simply doesn't hold up but if looked at as entertainment, then it's a winner. Farfetched and unlikely, but highly imaginative.
  • paulkoh110
    January 6, 2011
    paulkoh110
    Probably one of the most unappreciated movies, The Game features an intense thriller featuring Michael Douglas as a rich entrepreneur who enters a reality-based game that starts to destroy his life. Either you love it or hate it, but in the end you gotta agree that the ending was... read more insane.
  • Deano78
    December 31, 2010
    Deano78
    I finally got round to seeing this and boy I'm glad I did! It's a brilliant multi layered thriller with twists a plenty that will have you guessing right up until the end. Oh and what an ending! There have been some great thrillers this year and this offering from '97 is up there... read more with the best of the genre. Check this out!
  • middleeasternfilms
    November 4, 2010
    middleeasternfilms
    Not one of Fincher's best films, The Game suffers from a fairly weak plotline and too much action and story that goes nowhere. Most films with a premise like this allow the main character caught in something to gain more clues as the film prgresses, but not this one. Nicholas Van... read more Orton - played rather brilliantly by Michael Douglas - gets more and more confused as the movie prgresses and his brother Conrad - played equally well by Sean Penn - has far too few scenes. The ending was disappointing as well and was very predictable. With some minor tweaks this might've been a decent movie but alas, it's nothing more than a bust requiring Douglas to carry the entire thing.
  • ythelastman89
    October 10, 2010
    ythelastman89
    It's taken a few times to finally get into this movie, but i'm glad I finally saw the whole thing through. While it's sort've unrealistic, but if you embrace the plot it works and you are able to enjoy it and get lost. The whole point is to show people what they've been lacking i... read moren life and give them a scenario that will change them, so it's believable enough for me. The cinematography is very similar and as interesting as David Fincher's other movies, but there's a very particular color scheme to this which I really like. Michael Douglas is great and so is Sean Penn for the screen time he has. It's sort've a precursor to SAW and Inception, which would only make sense after you saw the movie.

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
October 4, 2011
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

This 1997 thriller is fairly entertaining nonsense if all you're looking for is 128 minutes of diversion. But if you'd like something more from David Fincher, the director of Seven, don't get your hop... Full Review

Todd McCarthy
March 26, 2009
Todd McCarthy, Variety

Regardless of how far one chooses to buy into The Game -- and the ending ambiguously suggests that it could go on and on -- there is no doubt as to Fincher's staggering expertise as a director and his... Full Review

Mick LaSalle
June 18, 2002
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The picture provides Douglas with one of his best roles. If he doesn't quite reach the bizarre heights he achieved in Falling Down, The Game makes its own demands. Full Review

Mike Clark
January 1, 2000
Mike Clark, USA Today

A crowd-pleasing pip most of the way.

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

As it's unspooling on screen, the film is hugely entertaining, but there are several significant plot holes that grow wider the more closely they're investigated. Full Review

Charles Taylor
January 1, 2000
Charles Taylor, Salon.com

Fincher is still working on the assumption that he has better things to do than entertain an audience. Which would be fine if he weren't drawn to such schlocky material. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Douglas is the right actor for the role. He can play smart, he can play cold, and he can play angry. He is also subtle enough that he never arrives at an emotional plateau before the film does, and ne... Full Review

Stephen Hunter
January 1, 2000
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

It's like the most hideously overproduced episode of The Twilight Zone on record, complete with a last twist that pretty much reduces what came before to soap bubbles. Full Review

Janet Maslin
January 1, 2000
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Douglas, who delivers a new shade of cruel elegance each time he plays another urbane monster, is the ideal star for this vigorously contrived thriller. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
September 12, 1997
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The Game is an intensely exciting puzzle-gimmick thriller, the kind of movie that lets you know from the start that it's slyly aware of its own absurdity (which is why it can then get away with it). Full Review

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    • Nicholas Van Orton: [Nicholas van Orten loses a shoe when climbing a fire-escape ladder] There goes a thousand dollars.
    • Christine: Your shoes cost a thousand dollars?
    • Nicholas Van Orton: That one did.
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The Game Trivia

  • what movie is this line from? "I will not rest until I have you holding a Coke, wearing your own shoe, playing a Sega game featuring you, while singing your own song in a new commercial starring you, broadcast during the Super Bowl, in a game that you are winning."  Answer »
  • Using the missing letters create the name of an actor/actress that has starred in the movies. Holy Smo_e Tit_nic Lit_le Children Finding N_verland _ar Game The Hol_day A kid i_ King Arthurs Court Heavenly Creature_ Ham_et Prid_ E_ernal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind  Answer »
  • Name the first film ever in history to be adapted from a video game.  Answer »
  • Micheal Douglas' life was put on the line for his birthday in what film?  Answer »
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