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After
a wealthy banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game,
his life is turned upside down when he becomes unable to distinguish between
the game and reality.
Director: David
Fincher
Writers: John
Brancato, Michael Ferris
Stars: Michael
Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Penn
Summaries
After
a wealthy banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game,
his life is turned upside down when he becomes unable to distinguish between
the game and reality.
—Phox
Nicholas
Van Orton is a very wealthy San Francisco banker, but he is an absolute loner,
even spending his birthday alone. In the year of his 48th birthday (the age his
father committed suicide) his brother Conrad, who has gone long ago and
surrendered to addictions of all kinds, suddenly returns and gives Nicholas a
card giving him entry to unusual entertainment provided by something called
Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). Giving in to curiosity, Nicholas visits CRS
and all kinds of weird and bad things start to happen to him.
—Anonymous
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."
Synopsis
Nicholas
Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful businessman living alone in a large
mansion outside San Francisco, California, but his success has come at the cost
of his family life. When the movie opens, he is divorced, distant from his
caring ex-wife and cold toward his only living relative, his kid brother,
Conrad (Sean Penn). Nicholas goes about life in a cold, detached manner and
seems incapable of expressing emotion or caring for anyone outside of himself.
On
Nicholas's 48th birthday, Conrad shows up unannounced at a local restaurant
that Nicholas frequents where he presents him with an unusual gift: a voucher
for a "game" offered by a company called Consumer Recreation Services
(CRS). Conrad promises that it will change his brother's life. (The idea of
Consumer Recreation Services seems to be borrowed directly from the G.K.
Chesterton story "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown"). The
nature of the game is unclear at first, but it appears to be a sort of live
action role-playing game that integrates directly into the player's real life.
Nicholas
has doubts about CRS, but he meets fellow bankers who enjoyed the game. He goes
to CRS's offices to apply and is irritated by the lengthy and time-consuming
series of psychological and physical examinations required. After a full day of
tests and a physical examination, Nicholas is informed that the game company
cannot serve him. However, Nicholas soon discovers that this is false and the
game has begun. The game focuses on a key moment of Nicholas' life when, as a
child, he witnessed his father committing suicide by leaping off their family
home, the same home Nicholas lives in. Significantly, Nicholas' father took his
life on his 48th birthday, the same age as Nicholas is now.
Soon
Nicholas begins to believe that his business, reputation, finances, and safety
are at risk. He encounters a waitress, Christine (Debra Kara Unger), who
appears to have been endangered by the game. Nicholas contacts the police to
investigate CRS, but they find the offices abandoned.
Eventually,
Conrad appears to Nicholas and apologizes, claiming that he, too, has come
under attack by CRS. With no one else to turn to, Nicholas finds Christine's
home. He soon discovers that she is a CRS employee and that her apartment was
staged. Christine tells Nicholas that they are being watched. Nicholas attacks
a camera, and armed CRS troops begin to swarm the house and fire upon them.
Nicholas and Christine are forced to flee. Christine tells Nicholas that CRS
has drained his financial accounts by using the psychological tests to guess
his passwords. In a panic, Nicholas calls his bank and gives a verification
code to check his account balance-zero. Just as he begins to trust Christine,
he realizes she has drugged him. As he loses consciousness, she admits that she
is actually part of the scam and that he made a fatal mistake by giving up his
verification code.
Nicholas
wakes up to find himself entombed alive in a cemetery in Mexico. He escapes
from his confinement and makes it to a local U.S. consulate where is is forced
to sell his gold wristwatch to get the money to escape. Nicholas returns to San
Francisco where he finds his mansion foreclosed and most of his possessions
removed. He retrieves a hidden gun and seeks the aid of his ex-wife. While
talking with her and apologizing for his neglect and mistreatment, he discovers
that Jim Feingold (James Rebhorn), the CRS employee who had conducted his
psychological tests, is an actor working in television advertisements.
Nicholas
locates Feingold and forces him to find CRS's real office, whereupon he takes
Christine hostage. Nicholas demands to be taken to the leader of CRS. Attacked
by CRS troops, Nicholas takes Christine to the roof and bars the door behind them.
The CRS troops begin cutting through the door. Christine realizes that
Nicholas's gun is not a prop and is terrified. She frantically tells Nicholas
that the conspiracy is a hoax, a fiction that is just part of the game, that
his finances are intact, and that his family and friends are waiting on the
other side of the door. He refuses to believe her. The door bursts open, and
Nicholas shoots the first person to emerge: Conrad, bearing an open bottle of
champagne. Devastated, Nicholas leaps off the roof, just as his late father
did.
Nicholas's
life passes before his eyes as he falls. He smashes through a glass roof and
lands on a giant air bag. Emergency medical technicians carefully remove him,
and he finds himself in a ballroom full of his friends, family, and every
person involved in his Game; it really had been just a game all along. Conrad
is alive and well, and explains that he initiated the game to get his brother
to embrace life and not to end up like their father. Nicholas bursts into
tears, relaxes, and begins to enjoy the party once his shock has dissipated.
When he sees that Christine has left the party, he follows her outside to her
cab. He asks her to dinner, and she offers to share a coffee with him before
her flight takes her to her next game assignment in Australia.
Genres: Action |
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Motion
Picture Rating (MPAA)
Rated
R for language, and for some violence and sexuality
User
Reviews
Let
me just tell you that, as a middle aged film buff, I have seen my share of
flicks, good and bad. Very few rate as high as "The Game" in
entertainment value. "The Game" is most definitely one of the
"most fun" movies to hit the silver screen in a long time. Filled
with plot twists and turns, this film takes the movie-goer on a psychological
roller coaster ride from the tile screens to the final credit roll.
"The
Game" is truly an intelligent tale, sort of a brain teaser that you get to
watch and listen to, with a time limit. You have just 128 minutes to solve
this, and chances are, like me, you'll be hanging on the solution to this
puzzle until the very end.
The
script was well written by a writer who clearly understands the needs of an
adult audience. Yes, we like our fun but we like to exercise our brains once in
a while also. And let there be no mistake about the great performances offered
here by Michael Douglas and his co-stars. I was engrossed by all and couldn't
take my eyes of the screen.
There
is plenty for everybody here. Fun for all. A big winner in my book and
definitely on my list of all time favorites. Get it and enjoy the ride!
Details
Country: USA
Language: English |
Cantonese | German
Release
Date:
12 September 1997 (USA) See more »
Also Known
As: The Game
See more »
Filming
Locations:
Tunnel Top Lounge and Bar - 601 Bush Street, San Francisco, California, USA
Box
Office
Budget: $50,000,000
(estimated)
Opening
Weekend USA: $14,337,029, 14 September 1997
Gross USA: $48,323,648
Cumulative
Worldwide Gross: $109,423,648
Company
Credits
Production
Co: Polygram
Filmed Entertainment, Propaganda Films, A&B Producoes, Lda.
Technical
Specs
Runtime: 129 min
Sound Mix: DTS | Dolby
Digital | SDDS
Color: Color
(Technicolor)
Aspect
Ratio:
2.39 : 1
