Review of Game 6 (2006) by Chadshiira — 02 Oct 2006

A book reviewer for a New York newspaper once described Don Delilo's "Cosmopolis" as being "a long day's journey into tedium." Nicky Rogan(Michael Keaton) spends a lot of time in taxis; the protagonist in Delilo's novel logs a lot of miles in a stretch limo.

"Game 6" is a revenge film, perhaps against that particular eviscerating review. According to this book reviewer's entry in Wikipedia, the writer is a practicing Christian, but the fictionalized version(Robert Downey as Steven Schwimmer) in "Game 6" practices a religion that's more in accordance with his(her) ethnicity.

Schwimmer, being a critic who happens to be Jewish, also brings to mind another tough cookie, of a different medium, who so happens works at the same publication this film references. So is "Game 6" any good? Pretty much so.

The final act might be problematic for some. It all depends on your own life experiences. Nicky's actions will appear as irrational to people who never lived through the anguish of watching their childhood team lose in the most epic of settings.

I'm a San Diego Padres fan. I wanted to kill Dennis Eckersley in 1996. Although "Game 6" feels like a filmed play at times(especially in the bar as game six unreels), the dialogue is so clever, to quibble over the film's staginess will make you sound like a victim of didacticism("A movie should, blah, blah, blah.

..). The dialogue transcends the cinematic limitations offered by this film's budget. There's not a bad performance to be found. Even a supermodel does sterling work. "Game 6" also has the added inside joke of Keaton starring in a film that shares the same name as Dellilo's National Book Award-winning novel.

This is Keaton's real comeback film.