Review of House of Games (1987) by Anna B — 28 Nov 2008

This was terribly disappointing. I'd heard that it was brilliant, but it's nothing of the sort. Mamet's writing is forced and obvious, with twists so blatant and telegraphed it's almost laughable (*spoilers* how could she NOT have realised Billy Hahn was in on the con? Why would he say he owed 25 grand when he only owed 800? Any reasonable person would ask this question immediately, and yet this apparent professional psychologist fails to even twig slightly until it's much too late.

And then she just hands over 80 grand after all she's learned? Please! As soon as she did that, I actually said out loud, "Lady, you've just been conned." Awful. *end spoilers*) To make things worse, the main character is one of the most shallow stereotypes I've ever seen on film.

Did Mamet do even the slightest bit of research? Any psychologist who hugs their patient and consoles them with "It's all right, darling" should be fired immediately. Also Lindsay Crouse is a fucking atrocious actor, and the film has dated very, very badly.

Crouse looks like a bad caricature from a book that I just made up called "Why the Eighties Sucked". Also some other things which I can't be bothered typing. Stay away.