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This is definitely a roller-coaster film that never lets up, throwing nonstop intensity your way, continually remaining unpredictable and serving as the ultimate movie-going escapism. Michael Douglas turns in a likeable performance as the perfect character to have so many things go wrong for him, and the dialogue and music craftily add to the suspense; the unnervingly high-pitched piano and deep string music never lets you forget this is a thriller. And the setup and progression of events are so enthralling that even if you don’t approve of the outcome, getting there is all the fun. In San Francisco, embittered Conrad (Sean Penn) requests lunch with his brother Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas), a millionaire investment banker who is usually too busy to do anything for his own birthday and who has everything in life he could possibly want except for fun and companionship. Conrad hasn’t ended up as successful as Nick, having spent most of his life messing with drugs and coping in rehab. For the wealthy man’s birthday, the two reunite briefly so that Conrad can give Nick a birthday card with a gift: some form of escort entertainment service. Skeptical at first, Nick’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he visits the Consumer Recreation Services office. |
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CRS is the ultimate role-playing game, a great vacation that literally comes to you. They provide whatever is lacking by creating a little adventure for the customer to escape to. A couple of psychiatric questionnaires and a thorough physical exam later, Nick is enrolled. But for what exactly, he’s still not entirely sure. He even finds a couple of newcomers at his regular club that have tried it, but can’t milk them for much information. He’s especially shocked when CRS calls to inform him his application has been rejected. But when he returns home to his immense mansion, he finds a human-sized clown sprawled out on the driveway. Has the game begun? Nick sums it up best with his own quotes: “I don’t really understand it myself,” he admits to the waitress Christine (Deborah Kara Unger), and “I’m being toyed with by a bunch of depraved children!” he cries to his lawyer. He proceeds to spend his time riding in an ambulance, strolling through dark parking lots, trapped in a malfunctioning elevator, getting chased by attack dogs, having his house vandalized and his credit cards stolen. He runs into odd characters and disturbing situations and at several points has to convince himself of his own sanity. His life is steadily going downhill and his grip on reality is quickly deteriorating. And that’s before the really insane stuff starts to happen, including attempted murder and all traces of CRS’ existence disappearing. One thing is for sure, he certainly won’t be getting a good night’s sleep. The idea is fascinating, and the way each of the events continues to draw Nick into a more and more complex fantasy is unique and endlessly amusing. His paranoia and uncertainty of what is happening interests us in the same way as if we were engaged in the game ourselves. Crazy things start to happen and at no point does Nick know whether he’s involved in a series of unexplained coincidences or an elaborate game tailor-made for his personality. It could even be a giant conspiracy for some nefarious swindle of his hard-earned millions. He’s in every scene and we only see what he witnesses first hand. The plausibility of the whole thing is incredibly farfetched, but that’s half the fun. This is a film to be enjoyed in the moment and not to be overanalyzed later, which is certainly where most negative criticism will arise. - Mike Massie |
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