The Game (1997) First Time Watching! Full Movie Reaction!!
Added 2025-01-15 06:24:38 +0000 UTC
Comments
Not the trashy airport novel 😂 -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2025-01-20 00:36:40 +0000 UTCThat is very true! The higher you climb, the further you have to fall or something like that so that makes more sense how drastic it had to be! -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2025-01-20 00:35:56 +0000 UTCIt’s got good bones! That end scene just threw us! -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2025-01-20 00:34:34 +0000 UTCThat’s insane!! -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2025-01-20 00:33:53 +0000 UTCYes, I agree. I was perplexed when I first saw this film in 1997, but to have any other ending would be miserable. This is about a man who regains his soul, much like George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life. It has to have a happy ending or it would be a betrayal to the movie and the audience.
Robert Boyd
2025-01-18 17:23:48 +0000 UTCThere’s nobody better at playing the disgruntled Everyman than Michael Douglas. Far fetched? Perhaps, but I did enjoy the ride. Cheers!
Robert Boyd
2025-01-18 06:02:51 +0000 UTCRIP David Lynch
Joe Lazarus
2025-01-18 00:12:34 +0000 UTCOkay... I have no problem suspending disbelief... I allow that with enough money, they prepared for virtually any contingency on that roof... could easily find flaws, but there's no reason to... but I do want to point this out... they did NOT drive him to suicide, per se... it was really obvious throughout the film that he was already suicidal... cold, emotionless, nothing left but money... he WAS his dad... everyone that cared about him, including his ex, saw it coming... it was a foregone conclusion... what they did was give him the nudge to get there faster, so that it could be controlled as much as possible, with as many guardrails as possible... they gave him a second chance... I loved the ending in that light...
dayriser
2025-01-16 15:43:26 +0000 UTCI never actually thought Nicholas was expected to go down specific routes in the game. I always imagined CRS had plans A-Z if he ever did anything random, so though it ended with him jumping off the building, the company had a hundred more routes set up and ready in case he deviated and it ends in another direction. I also always thought the game was designed to be “living” in that always adapts to the moment and the employees were trained to deal with random (if somewhat predicted) behavior. Still pretty impossible but that’s my headcanon.
PIG
2025-01-16 11:10:10 +0000 UTCThis is a movie that the more you think about it, the more implausible it is. Even with millions of dollars, it would be impossible for CRS to set things up perfectly for a) no one outside the game to notice or b) have events go exactly as planned to get Nicholas to do what they want. Like, what if Nicholas didn't bother to bring the window crank into the taxi cab? I suppose the retcon to that is that CRS changes the script based on how things are progressing, and we just see the version that happened to occur and work out- maybe things wouldn't work out, or take more or less turns. I agree the ending is the most improbable thing about this movie - Nicholas wouldn't be so blasé after attempting to leap to his death, and then learning it's part of his game, nor would his friends and family be so blasé about watching it. But we're not meant to think about such things- we're just meant to enjoy the wild ride and keep guessing what's really going on. The movie is very effective at that. I chuckled when Daniel noticed the similarity to the flashback birthday party at the beginning and the one in the Omen ("It's all for you Damien!") I had the same thought cross my mind- especially knowing what is revealed about Nicholas' father later. Another similarity with another movie was the psych test Nicholas takes and the one in The Parallax View (1974) - definitely a movie you guys should check out. These movies also share a sense of paranoia - not knowing who to trust.
Samolina Pilchard
2025-01-16 06:27:48 +0000 UTCI always thought it was Douglas himself playing his father. They did a good job on the prosthetics, or he looks a lot like Michael Douglas as it is.
Samolina Pilchard
2025-01-16 06:07:23 +0000 UTCWas a great premise, excellent acting but the final scene just put the film in the "absurd" category for me. LOL To think they would know exactly where he would jump !!! Their motto was hey we'll cure you or kill you doing it.. hehe
Robert Smith
2025-01-16 04:13:49 +0000 UTC“You can have pictures of me wearing nipple rings, butt-fucking Captain Kangaroo. The only thing they care about is the stock and whether that stock is UP or DOWN!” I tell this to my grandma at every thanksgiving dinner.
PIG
2025-01-16 02:19:17 +0000 UTCGreat reaction….Zodiac & The Social Network are a must if you haven’t seen them.
Eugene
2025-01-16 02:18:25 +0000 UTCThis one is such a ride. In fact, I think the movie itself is closer to an amusement park ride than an actual story, but it does that very well. More than just about anything I’ve watched, it does call for a complete suspension of disbelief, but that’s okay once in a while. I enjoyed watching it again with you guys, and look forward to Dark City.
David Wilkins
2025-01-15 20:05:41 +0000 UTCYou should definitely watch The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011). One of my all time favourite movies.
Odd Thomas
2025-01-15 18:29:13 +0000 UTCI remember watching this years back and not liking the ending. Time for a rewatch I guess
f hf
2025-01-15 18:22:35 +0000 UTCThis one puts its toes right on the line of suspension of disbelief a few times, but it's still a really good thriller. It doesn't beat you over the head with exposition or feel a need to explain everythiing. The audience can either keep up or not, and it prefers to let us feel as confused as Michael Douglas
Smooticus
2025-01-15 18:07:20 +0000 UTCYeah maybe you're right. It's just the amount of things for me I guess.
24fps_
2025-01-15 17:04:22 +0000 UTCI think the movie is intentionally so over-the-top in the hopes that the viewer will realize these kinds of concerns just don't matter to the filmmakers. It's not the point of the movie how it happens, just what happens.
Tyler Foster
2025-01-15 16:51:46 +0000 UTCI like this movie. But for me, it kinda falls apart on a second viewing. There is so much stuff that could go wrong, with either him dying or someone else... I mean he could easily fuck up that jump into the waste container for example.. yeah I dunno ^^
24fps_
2025-01-15 16:37:07 +0000 UTCOMG! I love this rather obscure film, a real "hidden gem" !!! The plot is soooo clever, and it keeps you guessing the whole time. Cant wait to watch it and see if you 2 figured it out early, cuz I sure didn't the first time!!
Chris Bruneau
2025-01-15 16:32:28 +0000 UTCI love this film. It has major problems, and it absolutely will not stand up to any analysis. But every time I watch it I just treat it like a ride, and I always enjoy it. I loved the reaction. To me, this film achieved what it set out to achieve when both of you were still gripped by what was real and what was not as Sean Penn came through the door at the end. The ride is worth the disappointment of none of it making sense afterwards.
Future Boy
2025-01-15 14:32:23 +0000 UTCLooking forward to this Great Reaction
christopher brown
2025-01-15 14:26:52 +0000 UTCEverything has already been said about the movie by others, so I'm not gonna add too much. But I think it's the first time I've seen you guys be somewhat critical of a movie, so that's always nice to see that you can be honest. In terms of putting the right movies on polls, I think instead of relying on Google, you can always rely on your faithful subscribers. So in advance, if you're planning to do a poll of a certain genre, you can always just put up a post where people can submit their recommendations for that genre, and then you can decide which ones will be on it. I think that would be better. A movie that is more in the detective genre featuring Michael Douglas is 'Basic Instinct', with Sharon Stone. I think you'd like that even though it's a bit racy!
Shehab Dawoud
2025-01-15 12:04:16 +0000 UTCThis would make a great double feature with Wall Street. The modern "Scrooge" thing is probably the most accurate interpretation of the movie's intent. But from a more cynical 2025 point of view, you could say one of the movie's themes is what the wealthy are capable of doing when they have limitless money. If they want to make something happen, they can pay to make it happen no matter how frivolous and self-serving it might be. Sean Penn's whole reason for doing 'the game' is that he felt his brother was "kind of becoming an asshole". No cheaper way to confront him on that? 🤣Imagine the number of suffering people they could help with whatever they spent on the game. They never show us the amount of the bill at the end, but you can tell it's huge and they just joke and shrug it off. IMO it's definitely meant as dark humour and the ending made me laugh more than ever.
Brandon
2025-01-15 10:48:22 +0000 UTCGuys Great Reaction !!! You know Douglas is my favorite Actor of All Time, so i was really excited for this ... I think you're right, The Ending is definitly too much and Fincher should had stopped it before, but man what a ride ;) i remember when i watched it in a German Cinema and everybody was Talking about the Crazy Ending ;) Guys please jump back on the Michael Douglas Train and watch his Classics "Fatal Attraction", "Basic Instinct" , "Wall Street", "The War of The Roses", "The Ghost and The Darkness", "Black Rain", "The Jewel of The Nile".... and so on
Florian Meier
2025-01-15 10:43:38 +0000 UTCYou cannot take this movie literally. Think of it like a fable similar to “A Christmas Carol”. Everything that happens is fantastical and nearly impossible to actually pull off. It’s fairy-tale logic. PS: take note of Feingold’s tie.
Daniel N
2025-01-15 09:17:38 +0000 UTCI love this movie! I love this ending! No one back in the 1990s were concerned about the LOOK of driving someone to suicide. (hiding). We truly saw him softening up during this movie, so all this crazy stuff was worth the dark ending turning into a party! :) Great reaction, you two!
Philip Alan
2025-01-15 09:13:33 +0000 UTCI will preface this by saying I think The Game is honestly a deeply silly movie. Really, several of Fincher's greatest movies, while not quite as silly as The Game, are also examples of taking B-movie material and giving it an A-movie, high-class sheen. Gone Girl, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Panic Room, Seven, probably The Killer (which I haven't seen yet) -- hell, even Zodiac -- even if you think they're great (and I mostly do), all of these movies have a trashy airport novel sensibility in the stories that are counterbalanced in the films by his slick filmmaking. Anyway: the idea, in my mind, is that Nicholas Van Orton is afraid of becoming his father. He has reached the age his father reached, and despite having all the trappings of success, is lonely, and seems to have no greater understanding of his dad's headspace when he died. I think the primary question Nicholas is wrestling with is: could this happen to me? Do he and I share the same lack of emotional fulfillment? Could I jump? If I don't know why he jumped, will I see it coming, the desire to do that? In that sense, The Game is cathartic because it gets it out of his system. It's not about hitting rock bottom, it's more like skydiving for a guy afraid of heights: face your fear, and that will dispel it. Absurd, of course, for all the reasons you state, but still, I think the movie's logic is observable.
Tyler Foster
2025-01-15 08:44:54 +0000 UTCAlso there is a kind of strange symbiosis between this movie and Eyes Wide Shut. Both lead characters go on a strange, confusing, elaborate mission to discover who they are and what really matters. And if I may be so bold. You two are good, kind, generous people. I think it's a big reason why we're all here. So you have absolutely no need to hit rock bottom and realize how wrong your life has been and how wrong your values have been like Nicholas did. He experienced for the first time what it was like to not have money and completely depend on others. And who does he really trust and value in life. I agree it ain't perfect, Fincher has said so and he agrees it ain't perfect, but I think about what it would really take to humble a multi billionaire like Mark Zuckerberg. What would he really need to experience to change? Instead of learning from a real life horrible tragedy like his brother's death, Nicholas got to experience and learn without having to live with the actual consequences.
Ellie Miller
2025-01-15 08:17:55 +0000 UTCHaha you guys are on the same page as I am with this movie. I've watched it 3 or 4 times over the last nearly 30 years and my feelings about it remain all over the place. I like Fincher a lot when he's in control of what he's doing, but this one feels like it got away from him a little bit.
Paul Cox
2025-01-15 08:16:00 +0000 UTCSomeone broke it down and estimated that the CRS Nicholas Van Orton Game with all the people involved, bribes, break-ins and damaged property would be about $1.2 million in 1997 ($2.3 million today)
Ellie Miller
2025-01-15 07:42:55 +0000 UTCThis is one of my all-time favourites. Looking forward to the reaction!
Daniel N
2025-01-15 06:43:18 +0000 UTCJust the other day I mentioned that you had previously seen The Sting's Jack Kehoe in Midnight Run. (I'd also forgotten that he was in The Untouchables, as the accountant in the famous train station sequence.) Well, here he is again as the fake cop that shows up after Michael Douglas finds the hotel room. In fact, I'd guess that his place in this con movie is probably a direct reference to his role in The Sting. Also, fun fact: the actor playing Douglas' father in the 16mm footage is none other than Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario in Mario 64 and many of the subsequent games.
Tyler Foster
2025-01-15 06:32:54 +0000 UTC
