The Game

For my money, the best American film of the year, exhilarating both as a narrative and as a showcase for some of the most audacious mainstream filmmaking in recent memory...since director David Fincher's last film, Seven, as a matter of fact. An uptight businessman (Michael Douglas) is given an unusual birthday present by his ne'er-do-well younger brother (Sean Penn): a gift certificate from Consumer Recreation Services, a company that promises to "make your life fun" via a role-playing game that dovetails with your day-to-day existence. Naturally, our hero soon finds matters spiraling out of his control. Utterly preposterous and hardly profound, The Game does exactly what it sets out to do, and superlatively: it enthralls...not with masterly character development or keen psychological insight (it's no Citizen Kane), but with a story well told. It's cinema as story-told-around-a-campfire, with the prodigiously talented Fincher as golden-tongued narrator. And it packs a punch; its notion of redemption is simplistic, to be sure, but simplicity isn't necessarily inferior to complexity (it only seems that way to critics, who have to come up with "x" number of words whether the work was written by Umberto Eco or Stephen King). Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (M. D'Angelo)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—Oct. 9, 2012—Criterion, 128 min., R, DVD: 2 discs, $29.95; Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and first on Blu-ray, 1997's The Game sports a great transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 audio on Blu-ray. Extras include audio commentary (by director David Fincher, cinematographer Harris Savides, star Michael Douglas, writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris, digital animation supervisor Richard Baily, production designer Jeffrey Beecroft, and visual effects supervisor Kevin Haug), behind-the-scenes footage (39 min.), four film-to-storyboard comparisons (12 min.), a brief alternate ending, trailers, and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic David Sterritt. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for Fincher's winning psychological thriller.]