Review of House of Games (1987) by Corey C — 27 May 2009

A psychologist (Lindsay Crouse), who has almost no private life, is told by one of her new patients that he's in grave danger because he just incurred a $25,000 gambling debt he can't honor. She is induced to help him by confronting the man to whom the debt is owned (Mike, played by Joe Mantegna).

Mike and his pals try to con her out of some money but with her psychological expertise she detects it, and tells them so. Rather than exposing them though she insists on becoming an observing silent partner to their scams.

She also grows attracted to the slick Mike. What follows is a whole series of events with their own hard-to-guess logic, and we're continually left wondering "who's conning whom NOW?" Director co-writer Mamet is of course a playwright, and so this has a stagey feel to it.

..I would indeed like to see it adapted to the stage. This can be compared to The Sting for its cleverness, but there's a big difference in "feeling tone"--The Sting was rather light-hearted at times.

..we smile at some of the revelations. House of Games is resolutely a serious suspense film; we even sometimes fear it will take a very dark turn indeed. ----- On a later viewing, I think I exaggerated the film's merits, but take a look anyway.

The picture was a huge commercial flop by the way--the almighty theater distributors just wouldn't pick it up. Showed in just a handful....