Are you ready to play?

Starring: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn, Deborah Kara Unger, Peter Donat, Carroll Baker, Amin Mueller-Stahl

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"Discovering the object of the game is the object of the game." – Daniel Schorr

Why watch this? ... to see the look on your face when you realize what is really going on.

Plot Summary: Nicholas Van Orton, a wealthy and reclusive San Francisco investment banker, receives an unusual birthday gift from his estranged younger brother, Conrad. This gift is an opportunity to participate in a mysterious, customized game provided by a company called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). As Nicholas enters the game, the lines between reality and the staged events blur, leading to a series of increasingly intense and dangerous occurrences that challenge his carefully constructed life and understanding of what's truly happening around him.

Dad's Preview: I rented this and could not believe that there was not more buzz about it. It is a hell of a tense film with a brilliant plot. You will have to watch it more than once to catch everything. It served as a cautionary tale for the modern day corporate executive - those who live their lives solely to serve the "company", at the expense of living life and spending time with loved ones. Douglas delivers another strong performance, but I was drawn into the mysterious Deborah Unger.

Propaganda Films; PolyGram Films