The Game (1997)

Nicholas: I don't care about the money. I'm pulling back the curtain. I want to meet the wizard. 

"There are no rules in The Game."

The Game is, above anything else, a lot of fun. It's not just entertaining in the ways normal films are, but it actively keeps you in the experience like few movies can. It sucks you in, and your goal is the same as the movies tormented character Nicholas: to find out just what the fuck is going on. Is someone fucking with him? Is he hallucinating? Is he dreaming? Is this a con? Is this a true present? Who the fuck knows, but the lead up to the discovery is magnificent. So what if the payoff is a little too easy. The other 99% of the film is hallucinatory. I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. It's David Fincher doing what he does best. And it's Michael Douglas doing what he does best. Hey, and Sean Penn is there too. What isn't to like? 

Nicholas is an investment banker, who doesn't really do anything other than work. He doesn't have any true relationships anymore outside of his housekeeper. He meets his brother, Conrad, who he hasn't seen in sometime. Conrad gives a birthday gift and it isn't the usual birthday gift. He gives Nicholas a certificate to play some sort of game that is different for every customer. When he decides to go to the CRS office and see what it's all about, his life is thrown upside down. He soon finds himself seeking answers to just what is going on. It's a movie thats pieces fall in place as it goes, and as they do, we discover that this puzzle has some glaring holes in it. Some pieces were lost along the way, but that can't take much away from just how well paced and directed and acted, this film was. 

The Game winds up being a smart, stylish film in the end, no matter how it is wrapped up. There's a trend to Fincher films. They are all smart and stylish. The movies style is equaled by its substance. I appreciate how far this movie goes to warp our view of the situations and occurrences of the events in Nicholas' game experience. The twist at the end isn't one that will completely make or break the movie in your mind. It's just there. The lead up is the movie. The twist is just some way to end it. 

A highly recommended film. If you can't have fun watching The Game, then I don't what type of movie could make you have fun. This one is as entertaining a movie as you could hope for. Is it as good, technically speaking, as Fincher's other thrillers like Seven and Fight Club? No, but it is just as involving, twisted, and entertaining. Another movie to use as evidence to show just how great of a director Fincher is.