Reindeer Games (2000)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writer (WGA):

Ehren Kruger (written by)

Release Date:

25 February 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The trap is set. The game is on.

Plot:

After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the reluctant participant in a casino heist.

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Prison | Heist | Prison Riot | Car Thief

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Ben Affleck	...	Rudy Duncan
James Frain	...	Nick
Dana Stubblefield	...	The Alamo
Mark Acheson	...	Mean Guard
Tom Heaton	...	Ugly Staffer
Isaac Hayes	...	Zook
Michael Sunczyk	...	Distant Inmate #1
Douglas Arthurs	...	Distant Inmate #2 (as Douglas H. Arthurs)
Dean Wray	...	Guard #1
Ron Sauvé	...	Guard #2 (as Ron Sauve)
Ron Jeremy	...	Prisoner #1 (as Ron Hyatt)
Hrothgar Mathews	...	Exit Guard
Charlize Theron	...	Ashley
Clarence Williams III	...	Merlin
Donal Logue	...	Pug

Also Known As:

Deception (UK) (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

104 min | 124 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Brazil:18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Malaysia:18PL | Malaysia:U (cut) | Iceland:16 | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | USA:R (NO. 37239) | South Africa:16LV | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:18 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Germany:18 (director's cut) | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Lion's Gate Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

In October, 2007, Charlize Theron said in an interview in Esquire magazine that "Reindeer Games" was her least favorite of all her films. She said: "That was a bad, bad, bad movie. But I got to work with John Frankenheimer. I wasn't lying to myself - that's why I did it."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Rudy (Ben Affleck) is trying to hot wire the car you can see the ignition is in the "on" position. Plus the car could not be taken out of "park" without the key being unlocked.

Quotes:

Rudy Duncan: Rule one! Never put a car thief behind the wheel!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

Soundtrack:

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Terrific acting and directing wasted on dubious plot

I realize that when you watch a film there is a need to suspend disbelief, but this film is ridiculous. This story has more holes than a colander and it gets more ludicrous as it progresses.

It starts out well plausibly enough. Upon release from prison, Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) impersonates his cellmate Nick (James Frain) in order to get with Ashley (Chalene Theron), his lovely pen-pal girlfriend. After a short frolic, Ashley's evil brother Gabriel (Gary Sinise) and his thugs kidnap Rudy, thinking he is Nick. It seems Nick once worked as a security guard in a casino that the thugs want to rob. The film is intriguing to here, but a succession of dubious situations and plot twists mar what started out as a good setup.

Ehren Kruger has given us some good scripts (Scream 3, Arlington Road), but in this story he tried to be a little too clever and it bombed. There was a lot of exceptionally bad dialogue. Rudy had at least two opportunities to make a clean getaway and decided not to. Various bad guys had at least half a dozen chances to kill Rudy after he had outlived his usefulness, but they all decided it would be better to talk with him for a while to give him time to figure out how to wriggle out of it. There were so many holes in the plot, Kruger felt compelled to try to patch it up with explanatory dialogue near the end. The ending was so far beyond inconceivable that it bordered on moronic.

Director John Frankenheimer did a very nice job with the camera, giving us a great variety of innovative perspective shots, and pacing the film well. The action scenes and stunts were also well done.

The acting was terrific by the entire cast. It is a pity that they didn't have better material. Gary Sinise was nefarious and slimy as Ashley's evil brother. Chalize Theron was wonderfully duplicitous as Ashley, all dewy eyed with Rudy at first, then playing the helpless victim, and later as the cold-hearted woman with the pistol in her hand. That was quite a range and she was fabulous in just about every scene. Ben Affleck might have been a little too nice to be Rudy. Though he was only a car thief, he just didn't seem much like a convict. Still, he has good screen presence, and he carried the role off pretty well.

I rated this film a 6/10. I subtracted three points for the dubious plot and another point for the absurd ending. The acting and directing were marvelous, but the story was so flawed that it couldn't be redeemed.