Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that The Game is a 1997 psychological thriller starring Michael Douglas as a wealthy investment banker whose ne'er-do-well brother gives him a strange gift for his 48th birthday: a live-action "game" that seems more dangerous and destructive than anything else. Suicide is a recurring theme; there's a grainy image of the lead character's father committing suicide by jumping off a roof, and the character himself attempts suicide. There's frequent profanity, including "f--k" and "s--t." An explicitly sexual movie plays in a hotel room in which there's also cocaine on a mirror and dozens of sexually suggestive Polaroids. There is frequent peril: The main character is driven off a dock into a bay by a cab driver, is pursued by machine-gun-wielding mercenaries, and has no idea what's really happening to him and why until the very end.

Sexual Content

Explicitly sexual movie plays in a hotel room. Scattered around the room are Polaroid pictures of men and women in various states of undress.

Violence

Distant, grainy image of a father committing suicide by jumping off the roof of a house. A dead body is discovered in a driveway, later revealed to be a toy. A man almost dies when a taxi is driven off a dock into a bay. A distraught man jumps off a building, driven to suicide after he believes he has accidentally shot and killed his brother. Characters fire machine guns. Frequent peril; characters run from seemingly deadly pursuers.

Language

Frequent profanity includes "f--k" and variations, "s--t" and variations, "d--kface," "son of a bitch." Reference to masturbation.

Social Behavior

Explores themes of what's important in life.

Consumerism

CNN reference.

Drugs / Tobacco / Alcohol

Cigar smoking and alcohol drinking. In a hotel room, cocaine is spread out on a mirror. A character is drugged and weaves in and out of consciousness before passing out.