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The Game Details

1997 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 9919 members

For the follow-up to his dark crime thriller SEVEN, director David Fincher decided to remain in a film noir vein. The result is THE GAME, a fast-paced cinematic roller-coaster ride that stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a joyless San Francisco investment banker who receives an unusual birthday present from his .. Read more

Starring Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Unger, James Rebhorn
Director David Fincher
Genres Thriller

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The Game cover art

The Game

For the follow-up to his dark crime thriller SEVEN, director David Fincher decided to remain in a film noir vein. The result is THE GAME, a fast-paced cinematic roller-coaster ride that stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a joyless San Francisco investment banker who receives an unusual birthday present from his estranged younger brother, Conrad (Sean Penn). The gift enrolls Nicholas in CRS (Consumer Recreation Services), a company that designs elaborate real-life games for each specific participant. As the game begins, the reluctant Nicholas becomes the victim of a series of pranks that quickly turn malicious and dangerous. Stripped of his finances and convinced that he can trust no one, Nicholas realizes that this game may be an attempt to steal his fortune and leave him for dead. In a desperate bid to regain his life, Nicholas infiltrates CRS in order to uncover the secrets of the mysterious organization.
Douglas is perfect playing the uptight businessman Nicholas, cleverly riffing on his Oscar-winning performance as the cold-blooded Gordon Gekko in WALL STREET. Fincher's Kafkaesque carnival show is an exercise in taut filmmaking that mischievously pulls a seemingly endless supply of rugs out from under both Nicholas and, even more impressive, the viewer.

Starring Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Unger, James Rebhorn, Carroll Baker, Peter Donat, John Aprea, Jack Kehoe, Linda Manz, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Yuji Okumoto, Anna Katerina, Kimberly Russell, Elizabeth Dennehy, Terence Ford, Caroline Barclay
Director David Fincher
Studio UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 3 mins
HD DVD: 2 hrs 3 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Thriller
Language DVD: English
HD DVD: English
Dubbed French, German, Spanish
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles DVD: Dutch, French, German, Spanish
Released DVD: 24 Dec 2001
HD DVD: 12 Nov 2007
Production year: 1997
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (5) of The Game

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Michael Douglas is perfectly cast as the increasingly desperate pawn in this visually stylish thriller from Se7en director David Fincher, which successfully cranks up the suspense and continually questions what's real and what isn't. When hard-nosed businessman Douglas is given the ultimate birthday present by his brother Sean Penn — the chance to play an all-encompassing “reality game” that promises life-changing consequences — he gets swept into what he perceives as a paranoid conspiracy. Sadly, what starts off as a fascinating tale soon becomes glossy and trivial.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006
  • 3 stars out of 4

    A high-energy paranoid thriller that plunges its protagonist, and the audience, into a world where nothing is to be trusted; the result is some dazzling sleight-of-hand.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
    • Posted 02 Mar 2006

  • Most helpful member's review of The Game

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  • 26 out of 30 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    If that was a Se7en, this is an Ei8ht!

    Perhaps a superior offering from Se7en's director David Fincher. More entertaining anyway and far less predictable. One of Michael Douglas' two best performances, the other being in Joel Schumacher's Falling Down.

  • Most recent members' review of The Game

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  • 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Good

    One you have to watch to keep up with. Lots of twists & turns which keep you glued right up until the ending.

      • Tommy Hayden from Channel Islands
      • Posted 23 Apr 2005 15:20

  • News and features

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    The Black Dahlia

    Zodiac

    • 14 May 2007

    Some murders just won't lie down and die. The man who called himself Zodiac is officially linked to five killings, though in letters to the press he claimed as many as 37. For several years from 1969 he terrorized the San Francisco area, taunting the authorities with frequent cryptic messages that received front-page treatment. Despite this weakness for self-publicity, and despite failing to finish off two of his victims, who were able to describe their ordeal in some detail, the Zodiac... Read more

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Rating breakdown

9,919 Member ratings
  • 100
1,173
  • 90
1,136
  • 80
2,488
  • 70
2,095
  • 60
1,554
  • 50
699
  • 40
389
  • 30
168
  • 20
147
  • 10
70

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by: Paul Clyne from Scotland

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    • Game, The - HD DVD Version

    • Game, The - HD DVD Version
      For the follow-up to his dark crime thriller SEVEN, director David Fincher decided to remain in a film noir vein. The result is THE GAME, a fast-paced cinematic roller-coaster ride that stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a joyless San Francisco investment banker who receives an unusual ...
    • The Game

    • The Game
      For the follow-up to his dark crime thriller SEVEN, director David Fincher decided to remain in a film noir vein. The result is THE GAME, a fast-paced cinematic roller-coaster ride that stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a joyless San Francisco investment banker who receives an unusual ...