Game on!

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2018)

What do you get when you blend the narrative structure of "The Usual Suspects" with Alfred Hitchcock's theme of the ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, and the moral universe of Anton Chekhov's short story "The Bet"? You get this finely crafted thriller directed by David Fincher (Alien3 and Seven) and starring Michael Douglas (Falling Down, The American President).
Michael Douglas plays a wealthy investment broker who appears to have it all. For his 48th birthday, his younger brother (well-played by Sean Penn) gives him a gift designed for the man who has everything-a membership in a recreational services club that custom-designs experiences to meet the unique voids of each individual client (or so they say). The catch is that clients never know what's coming, and the line between real life and "the game" gets more and more blurred as the story unfolds.
The movie pushes credibility to the limits, and occasionally, beyond. But the story is engaging enough that I found myself restraining my disbelief until after the ride was over. One of the things that can make this an enjoyable movie-going experience is taking some friends along who like to probe deeper meanings.
"The Game" works not only as an engaging thriller, but also as a moral parable, a social commentary on the hollowness of contemporary society, and a kind of philosophical riddle. Viktor Frankl has described the illness of modern humanity as noogenic neurosis-an existential vacuum in the soul-that leaves us longing for deeper meaning. While "The Game" does not offer profound solutions, it does provide an engaging story about the problem.