Games People Play (2004)

Director:

James Ronald Whitney

Writer:

James Ronald Whitney (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Reality-TV

Tagline:

Just how far will people go for Fame and Fortune?

Plot:

In the style of many reality shows, six people (three men and three women) vie for a cash prize of $10,000 by performing risqué stunts and offering up scintillating confessionals on camera. |

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Sex | Contest | Female Frontal Nudity | Game

Cast

Joshua Coleman	...	Keith
Dani Marco	...	Chloe
David Maynard
Scott Ryan
Sarah Smith
Elisha Imani Wilson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dr. Gilda Carle	...	Herself
Jim Caruso	...	Himself
Hans Christianson	...	Supporting cast
Keith Collins	...	Keith
Brian Arthur Cox	...	Himself
Heidi Kristoffer	...	Herself
Suzy McCoppin	...	Herself
Chris Mimikos	...	Himself
Nadia Owusu	...	Nadja
Chloe Reynolds	...	Herself
Tamora Torrence	...	Herself
James Ronald Whitney	...	Games Host

Also Known As:

Games People Play: New York (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

USA:97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Fire Island Films

Movie Connections:

Followed by Games People Play: Hollywood (2004)

The worst of the reality show craze

I had the chance to see "Games People Play" at the CineVegas Film Festival and was highly disappointed. I don't recommend this film to anyone. The hardcore reality show junkies will be disappointed at the unbearably slow pace and lack of originality while the raincoat crowd will be unaroused by the lack of eroticism in the quasi-comic situations.

The description the festival program gave the film sounded very intriguing, calling this it "an extremely explicit and graphic reality show where the contestants bare their skin and their souls." That was all I needed. Curiosity took hold of me and I readily admit that I trekked to the theatre immediately and hoped to see both.

In the nudity department, the film delivers. About 1/6 to 1/4 of the entire film has people in the buff. Full frontal, unabashed, male and female nudity. If that's all you want then you get it. Just don't expect it to be erotic because it's not. Regular people playing practical jokes in the buff is the furthest thing from a turn on I found. And that would be okay it the jokes were funny or shocking, but you see them coming from a mile away. The few times I found myself chuckling, my humor quickly left as I saw that the filmmakers intended to exploit their few original jokes past the maximum time allowable by law. All skits went on and on and on until they were far from funny and almost painful to watch. I had to wonder if the filmmakers had ever heard of the cutting room floor.

The cutting room floor is where the rest of the film belongs. It also is unbearably slow and boring. Every situation is dragged out for as long a possible. We see the filmmakers select the cast for the game show for what feels like a half hour. Boring. Then we get intimate portraits of each of the six contestants (3 male & 3 female). While they are supposed to be baring their souls as the advertisements promised, what actually comes across is a fake, melodramatic whining in a pitch that is not too unlike that of fingernails on a chalkboard. Painful The contestants then do their challenges (the aforementioned practical jokes) and compete for points to see who will win. Why anybody cares would've been a more suspenseful premise if you ask me.

Bad movie. Avoid at all costs.