Reindeer Games (2000)

After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with the other man's girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself a reluctant participant in a casino heist.

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writer:

Ehren Kruger

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Affleck	...	Rudy Duncan
James Frain	...	Nick Cassidy
Dana Stubblefield	...	The Alamo
Mark Acheson	...	Mean Guard
Tom Heaton	...	Ugly Staffer
Isaac Hayes	...	Zook
Michael Sunczyk	...	Distant Inmate #1
Douglas Arthurs	...	Distant Inmate #2 (as Douglas H. Arthurs)
Dean Wray	...	Guard #1
Ron Sauvé	...	Guard #2 (as Ron Sauve)
Ron Jeremy	...	Prisoner #1 (as Ron Hyatt)
Hrothgar Mathews	...	Exit Guard
Charlize Theron	...	Ashley
Clarence Williams III	...	Merlin
Donal Logue	...	Pug

Storyline

After being imprisoned for six years on a grand theft auto charge, Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) is days away from release as is his cellmate Nick (James Frain) who is is serving a two year sentence on a separate charge. Nick has a number of pictures from a romantic correspondence with a woman named Ashley he has never met but is waiting for his release. Rudy is looking forward to returning to his family and having a fresh cup of hot chocolate. Nick is killed defending Rudy during a prison riot. When Rudy Is released the next day from prison he recognizes Ashley waiting outside the prison for Nick and Rudy takes his place and pretends to be Nick. Nick had spoken of his previous employment in security with an Indian casino and Rudy finds himself involved with Ashley's criminal gun runner brother Gabriel (Gary Sinise). Rudy is violently coerced to cooperate with a Christmas Eve casino robbery scheme that Gabriel and his gang have been planning with Nick's casino knowledge as the key. Things...

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Plot Keywords:

female frontal nudity | no panties | female rear nudity | female nudity | breasts | 

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Taglines:

The trap is set. The game is on.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 February 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Deception

Filming Locations:

Lion's Gate Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$42,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,128,356, 27 February 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$23,360,779, 18 June 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Marty Katz Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 124 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Danny Trejo, the reason Vin Diesel was replaced in the role that Donal Logue wound up playing was because Diesel was offered a starring role in The Fast and the Furious (2001). Diesel wisely went with The Fast and the Furious (2001), and was discharged from this movie.

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Goofs

In the first scene at the Tomahawk Casino, "Nick" bumps into a waitress and she drops the drink she's carrying. A glass breaking sound is heard. Also when one of the characters discovers that there was no remodel done on the Tomahawk - he runs off, dropping his glass - and the sound is heard again. There is carpet visible throughout the Tomahawk which would make such a glass breaking sound impossible.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Rudy Duncan: [Rudy narrating] To tell ya the truth, I never was much for the holidays. It's been forever since I'd known a holiday, since I'd seen my family, since I'd been with a girl, since I'd driven a car. You see, cars are what put me here - Iron Mountain, Maximum Security Prison. I was riding a hard five for grand theft auto. Meanwhile, most of my esteemed raping and murdering colleagues were up for parole in three. The world works like that sometimes. All the time, in my experience. ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

The director's cut features around 20 minutes of extra and re-edited footage. Included are new and extended scenes between Rudy and Ashley discussing their situation when kidnapped by Gabriel. Also included is an extended and more graphic version of the scene where Gabriel throws darts as Rudy, also a scene where he heals his wounds from the darts is included as well as an extended love scene. Other changes include the omission of "Love Rollercoaster" from the casino scene, which is replaced by a longer version with a much more suspense twist to it. Finally, another scene is extended where Gabriel shoots the ice around a fisherman sending him into the freezing lake to die as opposed to the original version which merely hinted at his killing the man.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Alternative Christmas Movies (2014)

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Soundtracks

Little Drummer Boy
Written by Katherine K. Davis, Henry Onorati and Harry Simeone
Performed by Percy Faith
Published by EMI Mills Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Affleck-ted, but Not Fatally

John Frankenheimer follows up his great comeback film, "Ronin," with "Reindeer Games," a flawed but efficient thriller that recalls his earlier "52 Pick-Up."

Freshly paroled ex-con Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) assumes the identity of his cellmate, Nick (who misses out on his parole when he is taken out during a prison riot), when Rudy falls for Nick's gorgeous pen-pal, Ashley (Charlize Theron). The ruse goes awry when he is also mistaken for Nick by a gang of thugs (headed by Gary Sinise) who recruit him in their planned heist of an Indian casino at which Nick had been employed.

Like "52 Pick-Up," "Reindeer Games" has a central character whose flawed behavior puts him at the mercy of dangerous individuals who conceive a scheme that spins out of control. "52 Pick-Up" was successful because the entire cast, beginning with Roy Scheider as the trapped hero, was equal to the task of bringing the grittiness of the material to the screen. The one significant problem with "Reindeer Games" is the casting of squeaky-clean Affleck as its central character. Through no fault of his own, Affleck looks like a lightweight alongside a supporting cast that includes Sinise, Clarence Williams III, Danny Trejo, and Dennis Farina -- all actors who look like they have lived a little. Affleck cuts a profile similar to that of Scheider, but without the lived-in look that made him convincing as someone who would be able to go toe to toe with his tormentors.

"Reindeer" is helped greatly by the performance of Theron, who, while also young, always has been able to project a more adult presence like the young Kathleen Turner. Credited more for her on- and off-screen glamour, Theron often is underrated as an actress. Here she conveys equal parts sweetness, intelligence, dismay, and ferocity. Of course, she also livens up her sensual scenes. For many actresses, nudity itself is the extent of their sexuality, but Theron generates heat simply by looking comfortable and bringing an unforced quality to the proceedings.

The other major plus is Frankenheimer's direction, which turns an adequate screenplay into a solid thriller. He keeps the story moving and handles the action scenes economically, avoiding the excesses of Michael Bay, Simon West, and other directors of MTV-inspired fireball-fests. As in "Ronin," the action actually stays within the bounds of plausibility, which makes them more involving.