What do you get for the man who has everything? That’s the question Conrad Van Orton (Sean Penn) asks at his brother Nicholas’ (Michael Douglas) birthday party in David Fincher’s 1997 neo-noir The Game.
Nicholas is basically a miserable rich guy who has all the money in the world but no joy in his heart. He needs therapy pretty badly. But as the age old saying goes, men would rather wake up penniless, entombed in a random cemetery in Mexico, than go to therapy. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
On his 48th birthday, Conrad gives Nicholas the “gift” of participating in a live-action, personalized game. But it’s not just any game, it’s an elaborate series of confusing puzzles and tricks that extend into Nicholas’ real life. Obviously shit goes sideways almost immediately. Let’s just say the game starts with Nicholas being confronted by a demented clown and it’s all downhill from there.
As the game goes on, Nicholas begins to completely unravel, incapable of understanding what’s real and what’s a lie. And you can’t blame him….it’s pretty unbelievable how far the purveyors of The Game are willing to go. You might even say they’re willing to….kill Michael Douglas. Or are they? You will need to watch the movie to find out!
A nice companion to The Game is the goofy comedy Game Night (2018). This one is about a guy named Max (Jason Bateman) who is also subjected to a completely deranged “game” by his obnoxious brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler).
It’s a fairly loose spoof but there are nods to some of Fincher’s shots in The Game, and the penultimate scene feels like an homage to Michael Mann’s Heat (1995). Most importantly, it’s funny and exhibits film-making craftsmanship and direction that is rarely seen in a studio comedy these days. I recommend it if you need a laugh, and let’s face it, it’s January….so you definitely do.
You can watch The Game on Netflix, and you can rent Game Night on iTunes/Prime (or get it from the library like I did). Enjoy!