Review of House of Games (1987) by Stuart P — 10 Oct 2011

Having been long absent from this site, I have returned in full force with the intention of not only continuing my film reviews, but increasing the frequency in which I write them and expanding there content. For a new opener, I thought I would choose the underrated David Mamet film(masterpiece?), "House of Games".

Something important to understand, right off the bat, is that not-that-unlike Mamet's later "The Spanish Prisoner", the "confidence scam" is NOT the central focus of the film, which is primarily a character study. The point of the film is Dr. Margret Ford's (our protagonist) delusional behavior. How unconvincing the audience finds the con game setup is not only necessary to the plot, but IMPORTANT.

When we first encounter Margret, she is approached by a nameless women who is rather excited to meet her... apparently, Margret's book, "Driven", has helped her in some way. The woman is friendly enough, but upon repeated attempts to elicit an emotional response from Margret only to get icy semi-politeness and frustration. It would seem Margret doesn't really enjoy helping other people. That we don't really know what her book is about until the end of the film (unless you are a particularly astute viewer) is a brilliantly subtle plot device.

The focal point of the film is not having a surprise twist ending, its just necessary for Margret to wade through the muck and mire of this criminal underworld in order to progress and make a change. As one of her patients puts it: she is not exempt from experience.

People often criticize the acting in this film as being "stiff" or "stilted"; however, I feel that this stiffness was intentionally written into the characters, especially Margret's, and as such I feel the acting is phenomenal. Mamet's directing is great as well, however, as usual the quality of his screenplay and Mr. Mamet's mastery over the English language outshines every other aspect of the film by a country mile. That "House of Games" did not win an academy award for best screenplay, let alone get a nomination, is an injustice of epic proportions.

1 Golden Globe Nomination - Best Screenplay.