The Game
Polygram Filmed Entertainment | Release Date: September 12, 1997 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
This is not a movie that can bear much postgame scrutiny. The minute you begin to question one element of the plot, gaping holes of logic appear throughout. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie's thriller elements are given an additional gloss by the skill of the technical credits, and the wicked wit of the dialogue. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
An intensely exciting puzzle-gimmick thriller, the kind of movie that lets you know from the start that it's slyly aware of its own absurdity. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It's formulaic, yet edgy. It's predictable, yet full of surprises. How far you get through this tall tale of a thriller before you give up and howl is a matter of personal taste. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
As it's unspooling on screen, the film is hugely entertaining, but there are several significant plot holes that grow wider the more closely they're investigated. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
At times The Game is frustrating to watch, but that's just a measure of how well Fincher succeeds in putting us in his hero's shoes. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
The disappointing ending aside, there is much to enjoy in The Game, a creation with a sheen so highly burnished that sometimes you feel you must look away. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
On the surface, The Game is an unusually imaginative thriller that bends its offbeat plot into so many twists that you actually have to pay attention - something few Hollywood movies demand nowadays - to understand its evolution and enjoy the multiple payoffs at the end. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
The film itself is limited by the material's nature as a brainy exercise and by its narrow focus; individual response will depend upon how tantalized one is by puzzles and games, as well as upon how off-putting one finds the central character, who is center-stage throughout. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Mr. Douglas, who delivers a new shade of cruel elegance each time he plays another urbane monster, is the ideal star for this vigorously contrived thriller. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
This sort of flick can be fun, and there are moments here when it is, when a suddenly shifting perspective tosses us for a dizzying loop. Then again, there's such a thing as too much fun and too many moments -- at over two hours, this particular game meanders on way past its welcome. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It's a stylish, cleverly plotted, perpetually unpredictable film with another electric (albeit brief) performance from Penn. So why is it so unaffecting? Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It's a cut above the throng of mindless, purported thrillers in which explosions and gun battles replace even rudimentary story telling. Read full review
60
SalonCharles Taylor
Fincher is still working on the assumption that he has better things to do than entertain an audience. Which would be fine if he weren't drawn to such schlocky material. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverPeter Rainer
In The Game, Fincher pulls back from the total gross-out but sustains a tone of aggravated anxiety. Hitchcock could have done this material and still made its perversities pleasurable. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It also has wild plot holes and requires an almost inhuman suspension of disbelief, but it's still a fun ride up to a point. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
By any fair standard, this lushly produced film is a long, bumpy ride to a major letdown. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
What emerges is a very poor man's North by Northwest without much moral nuance and a decreasing number of thrills. Read full review
40
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Certainly handsome, well made and for most of its running time gripping, the film ultimately turns into a $60-odd-million piffle. Read full review
More From This Movie

63 Critic Reviews

8.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL