Go Nicholas, it's your birthday...

Rating: 7/10 (2 April 2006)

I'll be up front and honest. I really wanted to like this film. In case you haven't seen the film, or you have forgotten what "The Game" is all about, let me run over the plot quickly.
The film is about a prominent and wealthy investment banker named Nicholas Van Orton (played by Michael Douglas, who throws his usual punch and panache into the role). Nicholas is a smarmy, arrogant man who doesn't really care about many things other than his job, but when his brother Conrad (played by Sean Penn) gives him an invitation to play a real-world "game" on his birthday, Michael decides to try it out for fun. Obviously, it's not everything Nicholas had planned for. What follows are shoot-outs, explosions and multiple twists as Nicholas tries to figure out who stole all his money, who framed him, and how he can get back at those who wronged him.
So what did I think of the film? Well, the acting, cinematography and direction are all first-rate. You couldn't a better cast if you tried. Douglas, Penn, and Deborah Unger all give great performances, and you'll find yourself guessing for quite some time. The only problem I had with the film is the ridiculously illogical ending that hinges on a completely different set of variables. Basically, Nicholas goes to the Consumer Recreation Services building (the company who owns the game) and holds Deborah Unger's character hostage on a rooftop, then he accidentally shoots his brother by mistake when he comes up to talk to him, which prompts Nicholas to jump off a roof, fall through a skylight, and land in a specifically positioned air mattress. And then, he is told that the whole game was a ruse and he was being watched and monitored at all times. However, that completely invalidates half of the game. We are asked to believe that the bullets which were shot at Nicholas and Christine by the assassins (that blow holes in doors and vehicles) are blanks; that Nicholas could get back to the U.S. without money or aid; that he had to stand at a precise location to fall through the skylight and hit the air mattress; that the company would specifically ask Jim Feingold and his children to put themselves in harm's way because Nicholas is coming to find and kill him; that Nicholas would go careening down a San Francisco street at night without being hit by vehicles, and subsequently being able to figure out how to get out of the sinking car; that a company can complete major renovations in under a couple of days; and even that news reporters, relatives, fellow employees, and even American embassy employees are all acting as part of the game. It makes the preceding story completely unbelievable, and drags the film down.
Another problem I had is that the film just wraps up so cleanly. Nicholas is not at all depressed or angry about anything that has happened to him. They tell him that he beat the game and he just wears this s***-eating grin on his face like he loves life. Maybe he was happy when he was being shot at? I don't know.
Bottom Line: Despite the ending, the greater sum of the parts is enough for me to recommend this movie. I give this film a 7 out of 10. Go pick it up if you have a chance.