The Game
THE GAME (POLYGRAM Films)Director: David Fincher
Producers: Steve Golin, Cean Chaffin
Executive Producer: Jonathan Mostow
Screenwriters: John Brancato, Michael Ferris
Director of Photography: Harris Savides
Editor: James Haygood
Cast: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn, Deborah Kara Unger, Peter Donat, Carroll Baker, Anna Katarina, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Quick Review: Guess -- if you can. THE GAME sets up two competing views of reality and invites you to decide which one is real as the story unfolds. Michael Douglas plays a jaded, emotionally-empty corporate big shot with a maverick brother (Sean Penn) who gives him "the game" for his birthday. The result is either an elaborate fantasy based on his needs, OR it's a con designed to rob him blind. The viewer gets jerked back and forth, as one scenario dominates the other, in a paranoid frenzy of images and violence. Which is it? Your reward is the solving of the puzzle and witnessing Douglas's talent for playing a character pushed by bizarre circumstances to the edge. Both factors infuse this slick piece with pleasure. I chose the right ending, so naturally I LIKED it.
Rating (on a four-star scale): 
Interview with Michael Douglas.
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