Games People Play: New York
Artistic License | Release Date: March 12, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
5
Negative:
10

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film ThreatDoug Brunell
This is a serious look at the corrupting influences of fame, money and entertainment, and what it says about us may be even more damning than what it says about its participants. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Part documentary, part parody, and part something indefinable, the film manages to succeed on its own terms and entertain on just about anyone's. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A bit of a tease itself. The movie keeps threatening to become amateur porn, like a risqué ''Candid Camera'' gone ''Dirty Debutantes,'' but it never quite gets there. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
There's no denying the freak-show appeal and you don't see frontal nudity like this on TV, but otherwise it's all as contrived and artificial as "Survivor." Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's a pretty scathing satire of reality TV, including itself, which makes it both what it is, and a critique of what it is. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
As a viewer, we intuit that it is more, or less, than it seems: That in some sense, the whole project is a scam. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Whitney's body of work doesn't suggest a filmmaker so much as an opportunist with a video camera. He makes a very specific sort of reality movie. It's called porn. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMatthew Plouffe
Think Fear Factor: Soft Porn anchored by a third-act twist that results in confused meta-mayhem. Read full review
38
New York PostJonathan Foreman
It isn't entirely clear if Games People Play is a spot-on but longwinded and excessively campy spoof of those TV "reality" game shows... or just a particularly ingenious and sleazy example of the genre. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
Flimsy mockumentary. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
99 minutes of excruciating "reality." Read full review
20
VarietyDavid Rooney
This artless, unpolished venture adds a heavy sex-and-skin factor to a poorly defined game show, lurching awkwardly between exploitative voyeurism, maudlin confessions and self-consciously risque titillation. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
A big-screen reality show that flashes plenty of t-- and d--- but little integrity. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Whitney takes having it both ways to new heights -- depths is perhaps more like it. He satirizes reality TV while showing total nudity and at times carrying sex to the verge of soft-core porn. As titillating and energetic as the film is, it is also rather sad because it reveals what aspiring actors will endure for what they apparently regard as an opportunity. Read full review
20
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Rent a porno instead; it'll be less exploitative. God help us, two more of these things are planned. Read full review
10
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The film doesn't know what it wants to be -- reality programming pushed to the max or a satire of reality TV? -- but it winds up as an exercise in the rankest sort of cynicism. Read full review
10
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Sets a new nadir in the reality genre's race to the bottom. The price of sacrificing dignity for the amusement of the general public gets lower every day. Read full review
10
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Whitney frames this as the pilot for a reality TV show, but if that doesn't pan out he can pitch it to al Qaeda as a recruiting tool. Read full review
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