Worst...Ending...Ever

Rating: 6/10 (6 August 2000)

For the first two hours of this movie, I absolutely loved it. The sheer scope of the plot against Michael Douglas was amazing. It was well-acted, well-plotted and excellently directed by Fincher.
Then came the ending (warning: there is a spoiler coming up).
I have never seen a lamer ending to any film in my life. The fact that Sean Penn would put his own brother through such an ordeal is beyond me. Douglas was driven to the point that he was going to take his own life; you can't just shake that off in five minutes when you learn that it was all a big joke. What if the elaborate ending had gone wrong, huh? What if Michael Douglas, when he jumped from the building, had happened to miss the atrium and fell thirty stories onto the pavement? Ol'Sean wouldn't have had such a good time then, eh?
Fincher usually ends his movies with a flourish. "Seven" had a marvelous finale. "Fight Club," although a flawed film, at least had an interesting conclusion to it. But this? The Game is a terrific movie sabotaged by an awful ending.