THE GAME
Starring Mike Douglas, Sean Penn

"The Game" is an implausible (or is it?) paranoia-inducing 
riddle reminiscent of "The Stunt Man" or "Naked Lunch" and 
those in the right frame of mind should have no trouble being 
tickled into a paranoid state of delusion by David Fincher's 
(SEVEN) even-handed direction. 

The plot concerns a mega-wealthy investment banker (Michael 
Douglas reprising his Gordon Gecko sans boisterous charisma) 
whose life, though draped in luxury, is going nowhere. (Like 
Ebenezer Scrooge, all he needs is the spectre of Death, like 
so much charcoal and he'll spark right back into joi de vivre) 
Sean Penn, looking like rehab has done wonders for him, plays 
Mike's brother who turns him onto "The Game" designed for just 
this sort of ignition, and the thrill is on.

Fincher is very good at creating a pervading sense of paranoia, 
as he established in SEVEN. The sense that everyone you see or 
come in contact with exists only to play a part in your own 
personal drama is a staple delusion of children and self-obsessed 
adolescents everywhere. For a rich, self-obsessed scumbucket 
like Douglas's character to question whether he is delusional 
along these lines is comedy of a somewhat profoundly 
psychological sort and makes for a good "Twilight Zone"-esque 
meditative thrill.

The trouble is, Fincher's style is substanceless. Take away 
the eerie darkness and unsettling murders of SEVEN, or the 
"trust no one" jitters of THE GAME and you're left with nothing. 
The characters aren't sympathetic or well-developed, and there's 
no real message, point, consistent level of believability, or 
meaning. While I left the theater a little exhilarated and most 
certainly paranoid, these feelings didn't last more than three 
blocks from the theater. By the time I got home I was thinking 
about what a great film SLING BLADE was. 

B-