Reindeer Games (2000)

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Amazing that in 2000 Ben can take over a role in this trash-movie - plot completely predictable, easy, cheap, annoyingly two-bit - just: DON'T WATCH!!!! The flix starts poor and gets poorer the longer it last... The characters do not become more sophisticated - they just burn the last bits when it comes to the end. You can guess the budget to about 20.000,-$ - the whole time you wonder, if anything will come around the corner, if it turns into a funny movie, into a morality turn, into something that matters - it will not - trust your instinct and just turn it off! The more I think of it, the more I must rate it a 2!

I really like John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games. Which is a turnaround for me, because when I first saw it years ago I wasn't too impressed. Last year I saw it on vacation around the holiday season on TV though, and found myself enjoying it. It's not the greatest movie, and much of it is ludicrous, but it's packs a mean spirited, sleazy punch and keeps up a nice wintry atmosphere to keep you warm on a cold night, whether from the booze or the bullets. The film gets shat on a lot, especially by star Charlize Theron who famously said she only did it to work with Frankenheimer, but I think it's way more fun than people give it credit for. Ben Affleck back in the sordid chapter of bis career, plays a recently paroled convict who's on his way to meet his cell mate Nick's pen pal girlfriend, pretending to be him. Nice guy. She turns out to be a sweetheart in the form of Theron, and things look up for old Ben. Until, however, her volatile, psychotic gangster brother Gabriel (Gary Sinise) shows up with a pack of thugs who have a notion to rob a casino that Nick used to work at, using him as an inside man. Only, he isn't Nick, and has no idea about the casino, forcing him to think on his feet and stall his way through the dangerous predicament. Sinise is a guy I'm usually indifferent too, or bores me, but here he's a wide eyed, brutish lunatic and really has fun with the role. Theron is appropriately sexy and enigmatic, and there's standout work from three tough guy actors I really enjoy, playing Gabriel's henchman, sporting the delightful monikers Pug (Donal Logue), Merlin (Clarence Williams III) and Jumpy (Danny Trejo). They're like the three ill tempered elves to Gabriel's raving Santa, and steal the film. Dennis Farina plays loudmouth, dirtbag casino owner Jack Bangs, James Frain has a silly bit, and there's a demented cameo from Isaac Hayes ("monsters in the gelatin!!"). It's a loud, dumb flick and it knows it, but it also knows how to have a good time in style. Even when the third act erupts in a cascade of increasingly laughable double crosses and perplexing plot turns, it never stops having fun. Nothing says the holidays like jail time, casino robbery, backstabbing sociopaths, Santa suits and shotguns, and a little murder.

Unbelievably implausible action crime thriller where Affleck, the film's hero, seems to be the luckiest released convict on the planet considering how much time he spends with a gun pointed at him, always escaping a sure bullet to the head, must help a group of nasty, vile thugs (Gary Sinise, Danny Trejo, Clarence William III, and Donal Logue) rob the wintry casino of Dennis Farina (his recent death was the reason I watched this again, to tell you the truth). All of this comes about when Affleck (substituting for a man (played by James Frain) stabbed with a shiv in prison, who was his cellmate) meets the author (Charlize Theron) of letters pinned for Frain, read to him. Affleck himself fell in love with Theron through those letters, but it isn't long before he's accosted by Sinise's brood and expected to help them rob a casino. This film has two/three twists that challenge any existing credibility that remains left over from entire ridiculous sequences that rescue Affleck from certain death, and there are multiple, long-winded expository back-and-forths between heavies and Affleck endlessly explaining "Haha, I got you!" The last one involving Frain and Theron was the straw that broke the camels back for me. I could barely swallow the "James Bond" delays in killing off Affleck, with the film's villains finding convoluted means to bump him off just so the screenplay could allow him plenty of time to come up with an escape plan. All of this said, time has mellowed me quite a bit towards Affleck. I like him a lot now, and his performance in the film didn't bother me at all. He has some fun actors to work off of. Sinise lays it on mighty thick, but the part requires lots of psychopathic tendencies. Of course, Clarence seemed to remain in employment just because he could play with relative ease those cold-blooded heels that accompany the likes of Sinise's ringleader…he always had the look casting director's must relish when a human monster is required. Logue seems out of place if we look at his career after this particular film, while Trejo can just appear and convince as a bruiser willingly following this rogue's gallery of homicidal scumbags. Thankfully, Frankenheimer's direction has lots of energy and pizazz attempting to compensate for a screenplay that tests our tolerance for character stupidity. Theron, like she was in 2 Days in the Valley (1996), is a feast for the eyes and libido at this point in her career, but the twists regarding her ulterior motives as it pertains to the heist were just too much for me personally. She can play the bitch, though; there's no denying that. At least, the ending is gratifying in that all the criminals get their just desserts; and they all deserve what they get for being so dumb.

For the most part, the "How Did This Get Made" guys (and girl) have been doing great with their movie choices, but for whatever reasons, I thought this movie was actually kinda good. I mean sure, it has a horrible plot, the acting is awful, and don't get me started on the tongue-in-cheek Christmas jokes. But once you fight through those, it's surprisingly funny, quick and dare I say enjoyable. Most of the cast are tolerable, but I liked Gary Sinise most. It's not a movie to take seriously, of course, but at least it will keep you guessing without you asking it to. Nothing makes sense, and that's the best part. (PS: Charlize Theron has great breasts.)