Read some of the negative reviews before deciding to see this

Rating: 2/10 (22 December 2012)

I watched this based on having read many positive reviews. If I had read the negative reviews, I would probably have given it a miss. The main thread common to most all of the poor reviews is how things so quickly spin out of control with absurdity piled on absurdity, finally reaching an ending that ranks with the most ridiculous I have seen.
Things start out well enough with Michael Douglas playing the self-important, officious, extravagantly wealthy financier Nicholas Van Orton. Douglas carries this role off well, a talent he has shown in other movies. Things start to go wrong when Van Orton signs on to "The Game" with a company known as CRS. The game is presented as a mysterious life changing experience with no specifics offered. There is no way a person like Van Orton would have innocently agreed to the detailed interrogation he was subjected to at CRS in order to participate in some game. He would have sent out a fleet of lawyers and investigators to find out every last detail about this company before ever having anything to do with them.
Once Van Orton does sign up for the game, things only get more and more unbelievable. The intent is to have the audience guessing what is real and what is part of the game, but, if you are a realist, this hocus-pocus will cease to hold your interest.
Michael Douglas and Deborah Kara Unger (who plays Douglas' main antagonist) try to stay serious in what is essentially a frippery. While on screen only briefly, Sean Penn plays Van Orton's brother with the appearance of having participated in this foolishness on a lark.
I give the movie credit for its high production values.