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The Game

year 1997decade 90sdirector David Finchergenre Thriller

128 minutes

IMDb
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

The Game | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Sean Fennesseyhost Chris Ryan theme David Fincher Week
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Producer credits not yet identified.

Roger Ebert's review

Roger Ebert’s stated score is three and a half stars.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:18Read transcript
  • The stated score is three and a half stars.
  • The quoted review says the movie sustains its paranoid vision past an apparent ending and makes the real ending another macabre twist.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The ending run, CRS chase, first Rebhorn meeting, Conrad lunch, graffiti return, presidential suite, and cab escape lead a broad scene discussion.

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:40Read transcript
  • Conrad's lunch is praised for Sean Penn's meth anecdote and volatile energy.
  • The television speaking directly to Nicholas is selected as the moment the game turns strange.
  • The car scene is separately nominated as the game begins to unravel.
  • The dog chase and dumpster jump are praised as reliable thriller devices.
  • The presidential-suite sequence escalates through the pickpocket, hotel-desk recognition, and a room staged with drugs and pornography.
  • The cab-driver scene and Nicholas jumping from the cab are another favored set piece.
  • The entire ending run from the CRS cafeteria reveal through the party and final airport invitation is the preferred extended sequence for one participant.
  • The graffiti-covered house and first use of White Rabbit are praised for their fluorescent design and immersive staging.
  • The principal chase with Deborah Kara Unger’s character through CRS and the later return with police to an empty office is another winner.
  • Both confrontations with the publishing executive are praised, especially the later scene in which Nicholas throws Polaroids at him.
  • Scenes in which Nicholas questions participants and tries to determine the rules are valued for sustaining uncertainty.
  • The first Rebhorn meeting is selected for the controlled sales pitch about accepting the game before judging it.
  • The slow-motion racquetball footage is jokingly nominated while prompting doubts about Douglas as an athlete.

What’s Aged the Best?

Sean Penn, the final bill split, San Francisco locations, fluorescent graffiti, thriller phrases, Deborah Kara Unger, and Fincher’s hidden societies are praised.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:29Read transcript
  • Sean Penn’s unreliable, volatile brother remains a major strength.
  • The brothers silently agreeing to split the final bill is praised as a sharp closing joke.
  • The Ritz-Carlton remains an unchanged and recognizable San Francisco location.
  • The graffiti-covered house remains visually memorable.
  • The phrases “they’re watching” and “now you’ve done it” are praised as durable thriller devices.
  • Deborah Kara Unger is praised as well suited to the movie, while the panel wonders why she did not become a larger star.
  • The panel reports that Fincher and Douglas cast her after seeing a Crash sex scene on her reel, then explicitly questions whether that story is true.
  • Fincher’s Bay Area photography gives the city a strong cinematic identity.
  • The hidden organization operating through familiar hotels, phones, and bank systems fits Fincher’s recurring interest in secret societies in plain view.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The Mexico detour, Fincher’s dislike of the movie, Deborah Kara Unger’s later career, and repeated Super 8 flashbacks draw criticism.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:55Read transcript
  • The movie drags after Nicholas wakes in Mexico, and moving the sequence to San Bernardino is proposed as a faster alternative.
  • Fincher’s public dislike of the movie is itself called something that aged badly.
  • Deborah Kara Unger’s career after this role is described as a disappointment.
  • The repeated Super 8 images of the father’s suicide are said to break the tone and over-explain Nicholas.

Casting What-Ifs

An earlier version paired Bridget Fonda with an actor whose name is transcribed as Kyle McLaughlin; Rebecca De Mornay is proposed as a period alternative, and Jodie Foster and Jeff Bridges were later attached or offered major roles.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:04Read transcript

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

James Rebhorn wins from a cast crowded with recognizable character actors.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:02Read transcript
  • James Rebhorn is raised as the category candidate.
  • The panel settles on Rebhorn because his face was familiar from many roles even when his name was not.
  • The attorney, whose name is transcribed as Peter Donot, is proposed for his earlier appearance in the Godfather II commission hearings.
  • The same actor is reported as the runner-up choice for the role transcribed as Tom Hagan before it went to the actor transcribed as Deval.
  • Tommy Flanagan is recognized by his facial scar and later television work.
  • The cab driver is tentatively raised and immediately questioned as a candidate.
  • The performer whose name is transcribed as Linda Manns is recognized as the roommate from Days of Heaven.
  • Mark Boone Jr. is recognized as Seven’s library-files character and from later television work.

Recasting Couch

Diane Lane is preferred for Deborah Kara Unger’s role, while Denzel Washington is the leading alternate for Nicholas.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:45Read transcript
  • Diane Lane is proposed over Deborah Kara Unger as a more involving version of the same role.
  • Denzel Washington is proposed as Nicholas because he can hold attention while playing a flawed or unlikeable man.
  • Bill Murray is the joking fallback because he had already played a Scrooge figure.
  • Robert De Niro’s Heat persona is imagined as another severe Nicholas alternative.
  • The De Niro version resumes with an imagined CRS interview.
  • Al Pacino is proposed for Conrad opposite the De Niro version.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Research covers the script’s sale and rewrites, a paramedic cameo by a performer whose name is transcribed as Spike Jones, and a rejected alternate ending.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:36Read transcript
  • The producer whose name is transcribed as Steve Golem bought the script from MGM and gave it to Fincher.
  • Fincher recruited Seven writer Andrew Kevin Walker for rewrites.
  • A performer whose name is transcribed as Spike Jones appears as a paramedic in the final scene.
  • A Criterion release includes an alternate ending in which Nicholas declines a taxi and walks away.
  • The other paramedic is identified as the actor who runs the sex shop in Seven.

Apex Mountain

Deborah Kara Unger and Johnny’s Coffee Shop receive positive apex cases; the principal filmmakers and stars do not.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:46Read transcript
  • Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, and David Fincher are rejected as apex cases for this movie.
  • Deborah Kara Unger is given an emphatic apex verdict.
  • The movie is considered as the last strong pre-Silicon-Valley San Francisco film, though Zodiac and Bullitt complicate the claim.
  • Johnny’s Coffee Shop is proposed as an apex location after appearing as a set in many films.
  • James Rebhorn is explicitly raised as another apex candidate.
  • The birthday cheeseburger is jokingly proposed for a food-on-film apex.

Picking Nits

The bank calls, Mexico trip, cab escape, apartment gunfire, roof jump, publishing-executive timeline, and company stakes are questioned.

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:20Read transcript
  • The panel doubts that a multimillionaire’s accounts could be drained so easily and suggests CRS merely redirected his calls.
  • Nicholas reading account numbers aloud in front of Deborah Kara Unger’s character is treated as implausible banking behavior.
  • His psychological-test answers seem insufficient for reliably guessing every password.
  • The movie skips how a penniless and disheveled Nicholas travels back from Mexico.
  • The panel asks how Nicholas was brought into Mexico and how he could stay roofied for a four-to-six-hour drive.
  • Divers are assumed to be waiting if Douglas drowns in the cab.
  • The apartment gunfire is explained as blanks plus effects in the walls, but the scale of the staging remains doubtful.
  • Nicholas could easily jump a few feet away from the roof target and die, making the planned fall the central liability problem.
  • Attempted suicide or fake murder would radically change the party, and recovering emotionally in ten minutes is judged implausible.
  • The timeline for the publishing executive learning about the game and accepting Nicholas’s firing is unclear.
  • Nicholas’s intense concern over a children’s publisher missing projections by two cents seems disproportionate to his wealth.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A series could follow CRS as a workplace or use a new game and subject each season.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:08Read transcript
  • One version would use a different game subject in each episode as an anthology.
  • A workplace version would follow CRS employees staging games across different cities.
  • A seasonal anthology could place a recognizable star into a different elaborate game each year.
  • A finale could feature a subject who defeats the game or a game in which someone is killed.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

The questions cover Deborah Kara Unger’s name, a possible real-world death linked to the film, and the final cost of the game.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:13Read transcript
  • The panel asks whether using a shorter professional name would have changed Deborah Kara Unger’s career.
  • An Unsolved Mysteries case is recalled in which online speculation linked a man’s death to an obsession with this film.
  • The final-bill question is framed by 1997 prices, the brothers splitting payment, and the belief that fifteen to twenty million dollars would be unaffordable.
  • Five million dollars is proposed, then questioned because even a wealthy character would notice that cost.
  • A San Francisco commercial lease, hundreds of extras, and actor day rates add substantial overhead.
  • Permits, a cab driven into the ocean, and gunfire through an apartment building raise public-incident concerns.

Who Won the Movie?

Michael Douglas and Sean Penn are the two defended winners.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:18Read transcript
  • A participant initially proposes no winner because this is not the best work of anyone involved, except possibly Deborah Kara Unger; the panel objects that career-best work is not the criterion.
  • Douglas is defended because his old-school movie-star presence carries nearly every scene and gives the audience its point of view.
  • Penn is defended because Conrad’s few scenes require an actor with enough energy and danger to make the entire premise work.
  • Fincher is rejected because he disowned the movie, though its success helped position him to make Fight Club.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Michael Douglas
Speaker not identified
Sean Penn
Speaker not identified
Michael Douglas
Speaker not identified
Sean Penn
Speaker not identified
Michael Douglas
Speaker not identified
Sean Penn

More from the conversation

Fincher has criticized the movie’s third act, while the panel argues its ending remains emotionally satisfying despite logical problems.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:55Read transcript
The episode places the film at the end of Michael Douglas’s run as a marquee star playing successful but vulnerable men.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:05Read transcript
The story is interpreted as a Scrooge-like fairy tale in which an unlikeable wealthy man is forced back into contact with the world.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:41Read transcript
The film is identified as a late pre-search-engine thriller whose phones, cash, directories, and information asymmetry would be difficult to reproduce now.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:46Read transcript
The panel argues Sean Penn’s unstable, unreliable brother supplies the premise with its essential danger.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:43Read transcript
The movie’s $70 million budget, $109 million gross, and crowded late-1990s market are used to explain why it was respected without being treated as a major hit.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:18Read transcript

Mentions across The Rewatchables

Recorded movie reference

The Truman Show

The Rewatchables · aired November 4, 2025

The Game is listed in the sourced research for this episode. The precise discussion has not been linked yet.

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