Amazon.com video review:
It's not quite as clever as it tries to be, but The
Game does a tremendous job of presenting the story of a rigid
control freak trapped in circumstances that are increasingly beyond
his control. Michael Douglas plays a rich, divorced, and dreadful
investment banker whose 48th birthday reminds him of his father's
suicide at the same age. He's locked in the cage of his own misery
until his rebellious younger brother (Sean Penn) presents him with a
birthday invitation to play "The Game" (described as "an experiential
Book of the Month Club")--a mysterious offering from a company called
Consumer Recreation Services. Before he knows the game has even begun,
Douglas is caught up in a series of unexplained events designed to
strip him of his tenuous security and cast him into a maelstrom of
chaos. How do you play a game that hasn't any rules? That's what
Douglas has to figure out, and he can't always rely on his
intelligence to form logic out of what's happening to him. Seemingly
cast as the fall guy in a conspiracy thriller, he encounters a
waitress (Deborah Unger) who may or may not be trustworthy, and
nothing can be taken at face value in a world turned upside
down. Douglas is great at conveying the sheer panic of his character's
dilemma, and despite some lapses in credibility and an anticlimactic
ending, The Game remains a thinking person's thriller that
grabs and holds your attention. --Jeff Shannon
