Rating of
3.5/4
House of Games review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 06/20/13
Fun, provocative, smart and full of twists. Margaret Ford (Crouse)is a serious psychiatrist. Billy Hahn, a gambler who wants to end his life, seeks advise from Ford. Billy confesses that he owes $25,000 that needs to be paid if not he will be killed. She then looks for Mike (Mantegna) at a bar. Mike asks Margaret for a favor, to do a "tell." Joey (Mike Nussbaum) leaves an important briefcase from a con that went wrong due to a cop that gets killed.
Aside from the tailor-fit noir soundtrack and the enchanting plot, it has solid acting, while the screenplay was gold. So many memorable lines: "Many things that should be pleasures are not." "It happens to the best. It happens to the rest." "It was only business." "Don't work so hard...you need to enjoy." "Don't trust nobody." "Take something from life." "Funny how somethings happen sometime." "What is life without adventure?" "We all got to live in an imperfect world." Messages of not taking your job seriously, occurrence of things unexpected, enjoy life and not to trust everybody were displayed brilliantly. Joe Mantegna was charming in his role but Crouse somewhat fails to make any impact. Her acting was too wooden and some scenes felt prolonged. Other than that, the story, bonus features of the Criterion Collection and premise makes House of Games a silent classic crime mystery.
