MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Down 146 this week

The Game (1997)

7.7
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.7/10 from 161,746 users   Metascore: 61/100
Reviews: 442 user | 141 critic | 19 from Metacritic.com

Wealthy financier Nicholas Van Orton gets a strange birthday present from wayward brother Conrad: a live-action game that consumes his life.

Director:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 444 titles created 28 May 2011
 
a list of 964 titles created 10 Mar 2012
 
a list of 2364 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 43 titles created 24 May 2011
 
a list of 399 titles created 5 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Game (1997)

The Game (1997) on IMDb 7.7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Game.
1 nomination. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Identity (2003)
Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

Stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rainstorm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they're being killed off one by one.

Director: James Mangold
Stars: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet
The Machinist (2004)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.

Director: Brad Anderson
Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
Jacob's Ladder I (1990)
Drama | Horror | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam vet attempts to discover his past while suffering from a severe case of disassociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusion, and perception of death.

Director: Adrian Lyne
Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello
Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.4/10 X  

Political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where a US Secret Service agent is assigned to investigate an interpreter who overhears an assassination plot.

Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

A hotshot lawyer gets more than he bargained for when he learns his new boss is Lucifer himself.

Director: Taylor Hackford
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette
The Others (2001)
Drama | Horror | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.

Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston
Changeling (2008)
Drama | History | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A grief-stricken mother takes on the LAPD to her own detriment when it stubbornly tries to pass off an obvious impostor as her missing child, while also refusing to give up hope that she will find him one day.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Gattlin Griffith, Colm Feore
Unknown (2011)
Action | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Stars: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones
The Ghost (2010)
Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

Director: Roman Polanski
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Jon Bernthal, Olivia Williams
The Orphanage (2007)
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Stars: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep
Drama | Mystery | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

In the midst of the Gulf War, soldiers are kidnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes.

Director: Jonathan Demme
Stars: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Kimberly Elise
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
Peter Donat ...
...
...
...
...
Scott Hunter McGuire ...
Florentine Mocanu ...
Nicholas' Mother
...
Maria
...
Maggie
Daniel Schorr ...
Himself
...
Power Executive
Edit

Storyline

Nicholas Van Orton is a very wealthy San Francisco banker, but he is an absolute loner, even spending his birthday alone. In the year of his 48th birthday (the age his father committed suicide) his brother Conrad, who has gone long ago and surrendered to addictions of all kinds, suddenly returns and gives Nicholas a card giving him entry to unusual entertainment provided by something called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). Giving up to curiosity, Nicholas visits CRS and all kinds of weird and bad things start to happen to him. Written by Anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

John 9;25: "I was blind, but now I see." See more »


Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, and for some violence and sexuality | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

| |

Release Date:

12 September 1997 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Igra  »

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,400,000 (Non-US) (31 October 1997)

Gross:

DEM 12,612,526 (Germany) (16 January 1998)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jodie Foster was originally signed to play Michael Douglas's sibling in the film. However, Foster changed her mind and wanted to appear as Douglas's daughter instead. Douglas and director David Fincher were very opposed to this change so the part went to Sean Penn instead. Foster promptly sued PolyGram to the tune of $54.5 million - even though her Egg Pictures was one of the film's production companies. The matter was fortunately settled out of court. Douglas - who is a personal friend of Foster - said that it didn't seem right for him to play Foster's father, given that there is only 17 years age difference between the two. Ironically, Douglas HAS already played Foster's father - he did so in the Disney film Napoleon and Samantha at the start of both of their careers. See more »

Goofs

Nicholas' lips don't move when he apologizes to Christine after everyone runs away at the fake hospital. See more »

Quotes

Nicholas: What's that?
Conrad: [signs document] This... is... the bill.
Nicholas: Do you want to split it?
Conrad: [exhales] Oh God yes! I'll take some of that...
[shows Nicholas enormous number at bottom of receipt]
Nicholas: [shocked look] Oh my God...
See more »

Crazy Credits

The opening credits shatter in the form of jigsaw puzzle pieces in Reference to the Film's title. See more »

Connections

References Days of Heaven (1978) See more »

Soundtracks

"Elevator Song"
Written by William Loose, Don Great and Marc Ferrari
Courtesy of Don Great Music Library/Mastersource
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
As gripping as it gets.
2 August 1998 | by (Grand Rapids, MI) – See all my reviews

Whether you love it or hate it, The Game definitely will not bore you. By far the most engrossing movie I've ever watched. I saw this on the big screen and throughout most of this masterpiece I kept asking myself, "where is this movie going?" For 128 spirited minutes The Game takes your mind and twists it ruthlessly, contorting it in any way it so desires. Michael Douglas is the perfect actor for this role, he played it flawlessly. I love this movie, it's definitely one of my personal favorites.


165 of 207 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Too many plot holes euronick61
Too many what ifs. tha_416_raver
This movie was awful. leftwichqb7
Would you ever forgive your friends and family if they did this to you? ciara99
Did brother Conrad 'con' Nicolas on the bill? hermann-eric
similar films???? myfriendsup
Discuss The Game (1997) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?