The Game - Play It. You Won't Regret It.

(1997) ★★★★★

Why'd we never learn to cherish things around us till we're losing them? Why'd we always take what we now have for granted? Why'd we always seem so blind to what's happening to us and what we're experiencing? If you've never asked yourself questions like this, then you definitely need to play 'The Game', that would give you a sense of being reborn.

Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful investment banker. He's confident and looks like a man in control of everything in his business. He's proud and cold, and is estranged from his ex-wife and younger brother Conrad (Sean Penn). He witnesses his father's suicide when he's young. Sure he's got a whole lot of money, but he doesn't seem to be quite happy with his own life. Shadows and nightmares keep coming to haunt him from time to time. The turning point comes on his 48th birthday, his brother gives him a special present, introducing him to a game offered by CRS, Customer Recreation Services. Conrad eagerly asks Nicholas to call CRS and start the game asap. Nicholas does, but wonders if it's gonna do him any good. What happens next is in fact out of Nicholas's mind, and mine as well.

If 'The Game' is, like all the other commercial films, just there to entertain or surprise or make you go whoa oh oh, I won't consider it a classic for sure. What fascinates me the most is its aftertaste-something left for me to ruminate on. After Nicholas fills in questionnaires and takes tests at CRS, he's regarded in the game. But afterwards he can't be sure if it's just a game or it's happening for real. Can you? I mean, is this your life or someone else's? Are you really living it? Do you know the rules of the game you're playing?

If 'Saw' is a twisty thriller, say, "The Game' is a twisty thriller with style, coz it's a David Fincher's film. David's famous for his stylish way of telling crime stories like 'Se7en' and 'Zodiac'. The difference is, it's not about crime this time, but a precious chance to realize what's larger than life itself.