Reindeer Games (2000):Dir: John Frankenheimer / Cast: Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Gary Sinise, Dennis Farina, James Frain: Laughable mess with a lame title. The only games being played are at the expense of the audience. Ben Affleck is two days away from prison release and he shares a cell with a guy who tells of the letters he receives from his girlfriend. Unfortunately his friend is stabbed during a riot and Affleck is left to inform the girlfriend but he decides to wait until after the holidays. That is the first of many stupid moves made in this crap. This obviously leads to sex where they thrash each other about as if a pay per view wrestling event. I cannot believe that John Frankenheimer took so much slack for directing The Island of Dr. Moreau when a film this bad would be a life sentence in some countries. This may very well be his worst film. Affleck delivers a laughable performance while Charlize Theron is cardboard as this conniving bimbo. Gary Sinise plays the villain who forces Affleck to rob casinos. The role allows him to constantly jab Affleck with a gun. Perhaps it was a reflect action having gone from Forrest Gump to this crap. Dennis Farina is wasted in another cardboard appearance. James Frain plays Affleck's pal in prison who is the connection to Theron. Pointless snow blown crap with a screenplay that was probably rewritten more times than the casino map. Score: 1 / 10

Reindeer Games known as Deception in Britain is John Frankenheimer's final theatrical film. Rather a shame that its a moderately thrilling film that was critically lambasted.As a thriller it has plenty of twists and turns but you always fear that there is something predictable about it and in some instances poor scripting does not help.Affleck is a carjacker doing his time. His cell mate is in a relationship with a pen pal who he intends to hook up with after getting out but dies just two days before they are both release.Affleck takes over his cell-mate's identity, hooks up with the pen pal who turns out to be the gorgeous Charlize Theron and after some good sex has a run in with her brother (Gary Sinise) and his gang who want him to rob a casino in a reservation where the cell-mate once worked at.Of course no one believes him when he protests that he is not who he pretends to be and he has no option but rob the casino that he knows nothing about. As its Christmas, six Santas go in to rob the casino.The plot has a lot of standard thriller concepts and you always anticipate a few twists and turns even those relating to the dead cell mate's ultimate motives as to why he wanted Affleck to hook up with Theron.The film kind of looks cheap, it was mainly shot in Canada. It has some scenes that do not make sense such as the actual Casino heist where the security guards are all over the place and even Dennis Farina firing rather aimlessly and wasting bullets.Therefore you rely on the actors to carry the film off. Sinise and Theron are good enough to keep you watching. Affleck is average but his character does enough to be likable. However Affleck is really not a strong enough actor, even now he is an actor who has mastered his limited range and his future does lie in directing.However I wish this film would had been a better send off for the conspiracy meister Frankenheimer.

This Movie could be used as Exhibit A in the Case, Ben Affleck accused of impersonating an A-List Actor. He is at His best when he does not distract. In this one he almost single handedly destroys what is already a Film struggling to maintain any credibility.It is unsure of itself and too much emphasis is put on things that are boring, or unnecessary and not enough on those that should be definitive in a Witty Action Thriller. The early Love Scenes are unconvincing, as is the Plot of misidentification and nothing seems plausible as the Setup begins to unfold.This is not the Director's worst Movie, for that see (or don't) The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Highly removed from His best work, this is watchable, but the cleverness is clunky and there are too many things that just don't flow. It hiccups its way through a twist or two or three or too many to count, but it is all for not as things just don't add up and the ride getting there is hardly worth it.

The action in "Reindeer Games" takes place at Christmastime and this is also probably the best time of the year to watch the movie as it's funny, entertaining and best appreciated at a time when your critical faculties are not at their sharpest!! This slick thriller is action-packed and fast moving but also tense and very violent at times. The plot is complicated by numerous twists, mistaken identities and double-crosses and also a bunch of characters that are often very unpredictable. Characters called Rudy and Nick and a soundtrack full of Christmas songs contribute to the strong Christmas theme which is maintained throughout and the regular humorous moments provide an effective counterpoint to some of the more unsavoury things that happen on screen.Rudy (Ben Affleck) and Nick (James Frain) are a couple of cell-mates who are serving out their final few days in prison. Nick has, for some time, been corresponding with a young woman called Ashley (Charlize Theron) and tells Rudy how much he's looking forward to meeting up with her when he's released. Rudy replies that he's simply looking forward to going home and enjoying some pecan pie and hot chocolate.Shortly before he's due to leave prison, Nick gets killed in a mass brawl during which he also saves Rudy's life but as Ashley knows nothing of this, she waits outside the prison for him on the day when he's scheduled to be released. When Rudy leaves the prison and sees the beautiful Ashley, he decides to assume Nick's identity and the two of them then leave for a passionate evening at a nearby motel. Their fun soon comes to an abrupt end, however, when Ashley's psychopathic brother Gabriel (Gary Sinise) and his gang suddenly turn up.Gabriel knows from reading Nick's correspondence, that he used to work at a casino and now wants to make use of his knowledge of the business to enable him and his gang to rob the place. Rudy tries to explain that he's not Nick but Gabriel won't believe him and Rudy soon realises that even if he convinces Gabriel that he's not Nick, he will probably be shot because, as Rudy, he would be of no value to Gabriel. A series of rapid developments follow and Rudy winds up participating in the casino heist with the rest of the gang who are all dressed in Santa Claus outfits. Further surprises then follow before Rudy's nightmare finally comes to an end."Reindeer Games" gets off to a really intriguing start when the dead bodies of a number of Santa Clauses are seen lying in the snow and the story that led up to this situation is then told in flashback. The plot twists that follow produce a number of funny and surprising situations until the story finally concludes in a way which doesn't really bear too much scrutiny.Ben Affleck is tremendous as the unfortunate Rudy who, after making a bad decision to impersonate Nick, finds himself in more trouble and danger than he could ever have imagined. Charlize Theron is consistently good as the femme fatale who goes through a number of shocking changes and Gary Sinise looks incredibly evil and menacing as the villain of the piece.