By Doug Levy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 16, 1997

Michael Douglas plays "The Game"

OK. So someone is trying to kill you. Or ruin your life at the very least. They've bugged your home, threatened your reputation, attempted to frame you for all sorts of illicit things, vandalized your house and there's very likely blackmail involved as well. Oh - they've also been shooting at you.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you hadn't agreed to the whole thing.

Such is the premise behind "The Game," the new film from director David Fincher, who is most well known for his terrifying thriller "Seven." Fincher's use of striking visuals, all grays and browns, was instrumental in created the grim, melancholy mood behind "Seven," and once again he employs his dramatic sense of scene to great effect with "The Game." The movie was filmed on location in and around San Francisco and in Mexico, making the most of dark alleyways, historic mansions and hotels and dusty impoverished streets. One of the most striking shots comes at the end of the film, but so I don't spoil it for you, I'll just say "X marks the spot." You'll see what I mean.

Michael Douglas stars as Nicholas Van Orton, an extremely wealthy and powerful businessman, who for all his money just isn't happy. (Like the Beatles said, "Money can't buy me love." Of course, they also said at another point, "Just give me money. That's what I want," so maybe you just can't trust them.)

Anyway, Nick's brother Conrad (Sean Penn) offers him a unique gift for his 48th birthday. It's a free "game" from a company called CRS ­ Consumer Recreation Services. In order to "play," Nicholas has to go through an extensive series of physical and psychological tests and sign a waiver, all of which raises quite a few questions as to what exactly the "game" entails. However, the best answer he can get from the CRS crew is that it's "tailored specifically to each participant. Think of it as a great vacation, except you don't go to it, it comes to you."

And, of course, anytime that you're drugged and left for dead, or sent spiraling into a large body of water in a locked car, you're experiencing recreation at it's finest. Van Orton is rightfully incensed by what's going on, and brings in the police and anyone else he thinks can help. The only thing is, pretty soon it becomes obvious that there's no way to tell who's in on the game and who isn't; what is real and what is part of the game. Without being given the rules there's no way to know until it's over, and it seems quite possible that if you lose the ending is most final.

Photo courtesy of Polygram Films Michael Douglas and Deborah Unger star in "The Game."

Both Douglas and Penn handle their performances excellently, as you'd expect from such well-seasoned Academy-Award-nominees, but the true star of the film sometimes seems to be Deborah Kara Unger, most recently known for her role in "Crash." Unger plays Christine, who at first appears to be the Sandra-Bullock-in-"Speed" typically female character along for the action-film-ride, but actually turns out to be something much different. As an actress playing a sort-of-actress, Unger manages to keep both Mr. Van Orton and the audience on their toes. Plus, she has one of the best lines of the film, especially in relation to the almost entirely student audience that attended the preview at the Gallagher Theatre last week. In response to what appears to be a prank in very poor taste which leaves her and Douglas stranded in an empty parking lot, she begins to stomp around angrily, finally shouting, "Where'd y'all go, you frat-boy motherfuckers?!"

The only problem with "The Game" is its improbability. True, everything doesn't really fall into place until the end of the film, but when it finally does, there's a lot of questions of possibility that spring to mind. Without mentioning any of them here, as it would spoil the film (this is one of those movies where the secret needs to be kept or there's no point seeing it), I'll just warn you that some serious suspension of disbelief is necessary to enjoy this one. People may go into the movie expecting something grim and starkly realistic, given Fincher's past work and the blatant "From the director of 'Seven'" tag-line, but it's better to just take "The Game" for what it is ­ something slightly fantastic and a lot of fun, but it will never happen to you.

Or anyone else for that matter.