Greetings,
You know, even though I don't do the whole Christmas thing, I do enjoy a good Christmas movie every now and then. So let's talk about Reindeer Games. Okay, if you've heard of this movie, you may have also heard that it sucked. And if we're talking about the theatrical cut or a version you'd see on television, then you're probably not wrong. To enjoy this movie at its best and understand how good it is, seeing the director's cut is nothing short of a necessity. More on that later.
Let me get to a quick explanation of the plot. I say "quick" because that's all I can do without spoiling the whole thing, what with all the twists we get with this one. Basically, Ben Affleck plays this guy named Rudy who is in jail and has a cellmate named Nick. Nick has been writing letters to a chick named Ashley played by Charlize Theron. When Rudy gets out, he finds Ashley and convinces her that he's actually Nick, then they meet up with her brother, Gabriel, and a bunch of criminals. And hijinks ensue. That's about it. I know that plot seems a bit...whatever, but that's just the foundation. Add all the rest of it in, and you get something kind of great. Oh, and speaking of great, let me say a bit more about the cast.
Okay, I know that I mentioned the leads already, Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron, and, in my book, that takes major points off the film. Yeah, I'm not a fan of these two, and it's not good to have the two main characters played by two actors you can barely tolerate. However, we are redeemed when it comes to the rest of the cast. Starting at the top, as Gabriel, we have the wonder that is Gary Sinise. That's good enough, but even better, this is not nice, Detective Mac Taylor-type Gary Sinise who we've come to know and love. No, this is bad dude Gary Sinise, and it is fantastic! Yeah, he's got this long hair and whatnot and he's all "GRRRR!" the whole time. SWEET! But as great as that is, we also get Clarence Williams III, Danny Trejo, James Frain, Dennis Farina and the overwhelmingly entertaining and underrated Donal Logue. Now THAT is a cast.
So, you may be wondering what went wrong, despite having a stellar (for the most part) group of actors and a good premise. Well, sometimes a director and the studio can disagree on what the final product should be when it comes to a movie. Understandable. And sometimes, the disagreements can make way to negotiations which can possibly make a film better, what with everyone keeping each other in check and being objective. Not in this case. Holy Crap! Not in this case!
The director of Reindeer Games was John Frankenheimer, the guy behind such phenomenal films as The Manchurian Candidate (the original one, for crying out loud!), Birdman of Alcatraz, Ronin and George Wallace, which also starred Gary Sinise. So, yeah, this guy knows how to have a vision for a film and execute it masterfully. Of course, the studio thought that wasn't good enough, apparently. What they did was do test screenings, the jury duty of Hollywood. And it would seem that after test screenings, they only want to speak to the people who don't like the film, because talking to everyone would be too productive! What the complainers complained about was that it moved too slow due to some of the dialogue, so the studio basically told Frankenheimer, "Hey, take out all of the talking. Oh, and while you're at it, cut out a boat load of scenes that explain why characters are doing what they're doing." Genius! Because who needs something ridiculous like character development in a movie!
Let me explain something to you people who make films. If I don't know crap about the characters, I'm not going to care about what happens to them. How is someone's death going to cause any effect on the audience if we barely know anything about them or even why they are there in the first place? We can't, that's how! I get that I'm not expert, and I do know that editing in movies is a necessity. But it has to make sense. It has to make the film better, not worse. Unfortunately, all of the studio interference made this movie majorly flop. Still, there is hope, my friends.
When the film was released on DVD, Frankenheimer insisted that it be HIS cut that people would now be able to see, and thank God for that, because, when allowed to see the original vision of the director, you can see that this was actually a good movie. And the uncut version is barely twenty minutes longer than the theatrical one, bringing its length to a mere 124 minutes, credits included. So it's not that long, even with the added footage. I seriously do not know why they didn't just leave it be for the theatrical release. It would have done much better at the box office. Oh, yeah, and it also would have been able to be released at Christmas time, as the title suggests it should be, instead of February, an infamous dumping ground for the crap movies from the previous year. Oh, Hollywood. What the heck with you sometimes?
So, to conclude, despite what you may have heard, or even seen yourself by way of a television viewing, Reindeer Games is quite an entertaining movie. Is it perfect? No, of course not. Is it worth a watch? Hecks yeah! If for nothing else than Gary Sinise and the dart scene! (Just trust me on that one!) So, if you're sitting around this or any other holiday season, and you don't want to watch It's a Wonderful Life or 24 hours of A Christmas Story, I say check this one out.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
