House of Games (1987)

Who's conning who?
House of Games marked the directorial debut of playwright David Mamet. It is a very interesting effort from him in that most of his films concern males this one despite a fantastic performance from Joe Mantegna concerns a woman. She is Dr. Margaret Ford and is played by Mamet's wife at the time Lindsay Crouse. Margaret has just written a best selling book on compulsive behavior and rather than enjoy the success of having a best seller she throws herself into her work much to the concern of her colleagues. One day a patient shows up in her office with a loaded gun threatening to take his own life since he can't pay off a debt owed to a mysterious man named Mike (Mantegna). Margaret talks him out of it and gets the address of where she can find Mike. This leads her to a smoky bar called the House of Games and within minutes of meeting Mike Margaret is involved in a scam during a poker game. In exchange for her participation Mike will erase her patient's debt. After the scam has been perpertrated Margaret suddenly has an intense interest to learn how it was done. She learns that Mike is a con man and meets his associates who explain to her how simple cons are carried out. Soon she is completely drawn into this world of con games and the con men who carry them out. As Margaret gets drawn into this world and impressed by Mike we the audience go along for the ride and think what a smooth and convincing guy Mike is while the whole time Mamet is tricking us and giving us information piece by piece. The lessons that Mike teaches Margaret in the movie about what makes a successful con man Mamet the director is using these same techniques on the audience. It makes for a very fun ride with some neat twists and turns. Towards the end one of these plot twists becomes suspect as if we can tell what will happen next but Mamet's writing prevents us from predicting exactly what will happen. His Margaret is not some helpless female just getting taken for a ride but she is as complex as Mike is. A very fun film right up until the end House of Games is one of the best and smartest con job movies I have seen. Mamet's trademark dialogue isn't as prevalent as in his other work but this film is one of the best examples at showing Mamet's skill behind the camera in telling a story. He has a very simple philosophy of directing which is to not overload the audience with character development rather introduce the character, tell us what they want, and show us how they plan on getting it. This approach suits this film perfectly where information like this is used as power. The Criterion disc looks and sounds excellent and the bonuses are truly good. There is a half hour making of doc filmed at the time of shooting that has plenty of good stuff of Mamet directing his first film and working with the cast and crew. There are also two new interviews with Crouse and Mantegna. The highlight of the disc is the commentary between Mamet and actor/consultant Ricky Jay. Jay is an expert in the con game in all its forms so he has some very good stories to tell and him and Mamet go back a long way and have worked together many times so the boys have a very relaxed way with each other. This is probably the best Mamet commentary I have heard as he talks the whole way through and his comments are often funny and as feisty as any of his macho characters sometimes both at the same time never more so than in the film's closing credits. For Mamet fans and con movie fans the Criterion disc is a real treasure.

Vintage Mamet
Vintage Mamet -- more for the stage than the screen, this film's memorable scenes overshadow it's somewhat forced dialogue. No one actually speaks like this, but the same could be said about Shakespeare. Sadly, many people actually do look like Mantegna and Crouse -- not exactly the best ingredients when the recipe calls for steam. (7/10)

House of Games does not disappoint
Some movies you just don't want to end. That is House of Games. It's got a great cast and trap door story line as shady as the smoke rising from a freshly lit smoke. It's a movie that once you've seen, you want to watch it again to see the act unfold even as you know the answers. And of course the name of the director/writer, says it all. You're in for a good ride.