User reviews

Very good concept, something new in Indian cinema and the story will keep you engaged. I would have given better stars but the execution was bad. The film had all the chances to be a 9 starer but the final part scenes were poorly executed. The fight against looked so easy.

'Game' is A Decent Thriller! It doesn't leave you awe-struck, but its a good one-time watch, that has some engrossing moments & impressive performances working for it.

'Game' Synopsis: A wealthy man invites four people to his private island to blame three of them for his daughter's sudden death. The next morning, the wealthy man is found murdered. The mystery begins...

'Game' has an awesome first-hour, which despite being slightly slow-paced, has the power to engage you aptly. Sadly, the second-hour is not entirely impressive. The finale, in particular, doesn't work. The motive behind the villain's deeds, appears bland. How one wishes if the second-hour was as well-done as the first-hour!

Althea Delmas Kaushal's Screenplay is power-packed in parts, but unimpressive other-wise. Abhinay Deo's Direction is top-class. Cinematography captures the foreign locales, stunningly. Editing is razor-sharp. Art & Costume Design are super. Action-Sequences are average.

Performance-Wise: Abhishek Bachchan is in good form. He enacts the central protagonist with ease. Kangna Ranaut is perfect. Sarah-Jane Dias looks gorgeous & delivers a fair performance. Jimmy Shergill gets limited scope, but he's remarkable in his bit, as always. Boman Irani hams. Shahana Goswami is okay. Anupam Kher is striking, while Gauhar Khan leaves a mark.

On the whole, 'Game' isn't perfection, but absorbing in parts nevertheless.

Once again poor treatment ruined this movie which had a very good script. Everything else was very poor.Normally Kangana and Jimmy Shergill put in brilliant performances irrespective of the quality of the films in which they are acting, but even they were terrible in this movie. Anupam Kher and Abhishek were average while the balance of the cast were very poor. Once again unwanted songs along with very very poor direction reduced the quality of the picture tremendously. At best I would give it 5/10

5/10??? You have to be kidding me.

I don't write many reviews here, but I have to write this one. This movie is incredibly underrated. Maybe it's because the Indian audience doesn't appreciate this type of whodunit story? I guess this is the reason for this poor rating.

Because the movie has a nice cinematography and direction, good actors and a very good screenplay.

Someone here wrote that "It looks pale, boring and even funny in front of today's TV Crime thrillers such as C.S.I". This had me rolling my eyes heavenward.

"Game" is an Agatha Christie type of mystery, and in this particular genre it is a REAL success. Of course, if you expect something like CSI, you won't like Game, but that's *your* fault, and not the movie's.

I really hate it when some people don't understand a movie and then write that it's crap. Argh!!

It has become a practice with some of our so-called movie "critics" to pick holes in every movie they watch and critique. This could be a way of justifying what they do to earn their daily bread but sometimes it's for the sake of being "critical". So negative reviews by "critics" have been very irritating because I saw most people in the audience enjoying the movie.

I am not suggesting GAME is fabulous but I will say it's fun to watch. For one thing it is slick. The frames, the locales, the settings-- all are glossy and very urban (which is why this film cannot be a huge nation wide hit). Abhishek looks very good. I think Gauhar Khan deserves a mention here. She acted well. Kangana needs diction lessons.

I liked the film because it ran well. I wasn't thrilled by the music (Shankar et al have been churning out lackadaisical music for a while now) but I enjoyed watching stuff that was so un -Dabangg like. I am getting tired of watching that Eastern UP rustic tripe-- a bandwagon that every film maker now wants to climb on, post Dabangg.

I wish Farhan Akhtar had tweaked the script a little more to make it tighter with no sags. But, no problems. Chalta hai. This is Bollywood and not every film is aspiring to go to the Oscars!

'Game' is slick and stylish. The visuals are unusual (Greece, Turkey et al) and cinematography impressive. The only problem is it tries too hard and doesn't have the goods to back up its efforts.

The biggest shock is the character of Boman Irani- is he the prime ministerial candidate of, did I hear it correctly, Thailand? And that too with a shady past? The tone of the movie is one of seriousness- if that is the case then people would expect you to get such little details right.

Another problem is poor casting. Abhishek Bachchan sleepwalks throughout the movie. There is a difference between acting cool and being lazy. He needs to work much, much harder. Sarah Jane Dias is simply horribly cast- one needed a bewitching persona to excel in such a role. Kangna Ranaut would have been better in Sarah's role- and ironically, vice versa is also true!

The director and scriptwriter fail on multiple fronts. There is little surprise and only a handful of suspense for the viewer. The CID series does a better job of maintaining suspense and entertaining the audience, even if at a basic level.

Overall, a case of promising big, deliver small- and this when I watched it on DVD!

Movie is really a blast...

Bollywood took almost 3 years to produce a good film after 3 Idiots....

A very enjoyable movie, love the story, characters are placed very well, Abhishek Bachan was awesome in the movie, but Kangna Ranawat wasn't up to the mark, Jimmy Shergil was also quite weak this time.

Anupam Kher was also not fully into the character but overall great job by Abhinay Deo and Farhan Akhtar and his gang....

Movie's going to keep you intact till the end of it because of its strong script. If movie wouldn't have been released in Worldcup times, it would have done much better in its opening days.

I like these kinda movies, don't really know about others.

I am not sure how indian public didn't like it ! Yes it is a thriller mystery and it involves a murder but that doesn't mean its like every other murder mystery indian movie ! This is a genre especially for movie lovers. I am a hardcore bollywood lover.. I loved everything about this film . Starting with the starcast- Abhishek bacchan, Boman Irani, Gauhar Khan, Sarah Jane dias , Jimmy shergil and anupam kher.. I don't think i need to explain how talented this starcast is and they don't disappoint in acting at all. Every one gave top notch performance and gave justice to their role. There was no unnecessary masala song inserted which distrubed the flow. The ending was written fabulously. Abhishek bacchan totaly steals the show. If you are a kind of person who just criticises every bollywood movie then skip it, but for others this is a must watch movie ! A really underrated movie this is i'd say.

In the present times when we have some outstanding and well directed crime & mystery serials being served in our homes on daily basis, it becomes very tough to come up with an equally great film in the same genre. Hugely famous series such as C.S.I. has raised the standard of this genre to such heights which now seems to be quite unbeatable especially in our part of the world.

And that's the major reason why GAME the latest flick starring Abhishek Bachchan in lead under the debut direction of Abhinay Deo fails entirely and is a great disappointment from its makers. The director seems to be a big fan of foreign thriller films, their production values and their cinematography. But in his awe of the western film-makers, he forgets about the major basic requirement of his project, which has to be a descent & an engaging script. It's not an easy job to make a Who Done It film today, because the people are so impatient that they at once want to jump to the last page (or climax) of the book to know the secret.

Moreover a murder mystery has to be fast, interesting, entertaining and surprising all together in its short duration of 2 hours essentially. And in absence of any of these above mentioned elements you cannot win over the audiences, who already have much more solid stuff coming on their home televisions every day.

Bollywood's old murder mysteries before the 80s had a fine blend of action, suspense, romance and comedy in them which still remain enjoyable till date. But we have lost that golden touch amongst today's glamour and grandeur, which is no doubt sad as well as unavoidable at the same time. So keeping the same framework in mind, GAME also tries to put everything together in one pot which unfortunately makes the dish completely distasteful and a waste. The film neither has got the required pace nor the excitement which is a must for a film made in this particular genre.

Starting with the same kind of setup as seen in the recent LUCK and the oldieSHALIMAR, it takes off nicely but then goes too slow and becomes boring within the first 40 minutes itself. The story developments are not able to engage you at all and one keeps waiting for something great to happen on the screen right till the climax. In short, nothing in GAME impresses you and post intermission one simply feels like wasting his time in the theater helplessly. The songs are all below average with a little relief provided by the background score. Cinematography capturing all the foreign outdoors is excellent, but if the director thinks that by only showing some great virgin locations and stunning chase sequences he can win over the viewers, then he really needs to work upon his art a lot more. In simple words, we are there in the theater for the film and its entertainment but not for some tourist site seeing on the big screen. Besides the characters moving within Mumbai, Bangkok, Istanbul with such an ease and in a STAR-TREK kind of time frame is quite bizarre.

Then there are some huge problems in the casting and performance department of the film. Like I simply coudn't understand what was there in the script, especially written for any of its four ladies. First of all Sarah Jane Diaz does nothing other than some Skin Show and changing costumes in her debut movie. Secondly, Kangna as an international police detective looks like a big misfit who overacts and also puts in a lot of visible effort to deliver her dialogues in English. Thirdly, Gauhar Khan is fine but she is only there in the start and end of the movie, taking a leave in between. And lastly Shahana Goswami, the most talented among the four is completely wasted by the director in a very silly manner.

Coming to the men in GAME, surprisingly here too we have a lot of talent wasted by the writers because they don't have anything great to give to any of the talented males in the script. Jimmy Shiergill is only there for the namesake and doesn't even have some descent dialogues. Boman Irani for the first time does it over the top with a lot of shouting than acting. Both Mohan Kapur and Benjamin Gilani have only one or two scenes.

Among the big ones, Anupam Kher doesn't get any scope in the script and is only dressed well in his opening scene. But I have some serious advice to give to Abhishek Bachchan. In this competitive world, if you only concentrate on your performance and don't care about the other aspects of film-making, like its script, direction and story progression, then you do need to give it a second thought urgently. Abhishek's performance in the film is fine, but as I said earlier who goes to watch a film for only one performance or for only its cinematography? Yes, In India, we do go for a film if it has some HIT songs, but not if it only has some worth watching solo-act, photography or good foreign locations. So, Abhishek desperately needs to work on his choice of films, his directors and in clear words should stop saying yes to the projects put forward by some dear friends and acquaintances.

Summing up, I would like to add that don't go for this movie only looking at its inviting title assuming that it will offer some real cunning games for your thinking mind. Instead go for the English Flick with a similar title "THE GAME" starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn which will sure give your grey cells a real tough time.

If you are an intelligent/open minded person, go watch this movie....it is a stunning movie that will keep you focused on the screen. ( relative to bollywood standard)

Do NOT watch this movie if you fulfil one of the following criterias: (1) You have a very low threshold for humor and find dumb comedies like golmaal 3/ready/tees maar khan funny. (2) You find primitive unoriginal movies like dabangg a superhit (3) You go to cinema just to whistle and dance at every move of your favourite actor. (4) You don't like I am kalam & Chillar party and you prefer "bhoot uncle"

P.S The problem does not lie with bollywood but with the audience..

Bollywood wants to take it to the next level but the audience is stuck in its old era.....

You will find it difficult to believe that this is from a production house which gave us movies like DCH and Lakshya. This is a whodunit which gets more and more ridiculous as the movie progresses. There is not much of a suspense as the twist in the end is something you guess as soon as the crime happens. Shot well in exotic locations but then that is all about Game offers.

You have an Indian who owns a large island in Greece calling over an Indian who is a PM candidate in Thailand and an Indian who owns the largest casino in Turkey and 2 others to Greece and then spilling the dark secrets he has on them out. And the premise that movie starts off on ends there as it suddenly shifts track to a whodunit with a murder and the folks on the island being prime suspects. And after that the movie goes downhill and takes unbelievable short cuts. The guys buzz between different cities in the globe as if they are like 20 minutes away.

This is my first review in imdb, and I had to review this as this is an underrated movie. I watched it today and the story was gripping throughout.

Sometimes Bollywood has some good stories to tell. However, most directors mess up the story. Game is one of those films with a good plot but poor story telling.

Game starts off brilliantly. A billionaire invites 4 people to his island. One is going to be the future PM of Thailand. The 2nd a Turkish drug lord. 3rd..a successful Bollywood actor. And, finally 4th, a woman journalist. Each are connected in some way to the billionaire's illegitimate daughter who is dead. And he wants revenge from the 3 men. But the twist is that the billionaire is found dead next morning. Who killed him is the crux ?

However, it is from this point that the movie collapses so badly that actors like Bachchan, Ranaut, Shergill and Irani can't save this film. From Kher's revenge story, it becomes Bachchan's revenge story. The big twist of Bachchan as an under cover Interpol officer falls flat.

And the biggest weak link is the casting of Sarah Dias as the main lead. She is a very pretty lady in spite of her dusky complexion. But man she can't act. You don't fell sorry for her at all.

The performances are average. Bachchan and Ranaut try to look cool as cops but don't have the charisma to pull it off in this flick. The rest of the cast is serviceable.

I suggest that this movie should be shown in film schools across the world for film students to learn how not to waste a good story.

Abhinay Deo's 'Game' is just another one of those pathetic attempts at creating a 'stylish' whodunnit. Even though the stupid twists and turns are not as absurd as in the usual Bollywood whodunnits, it's still quite bad. Not surprisingly, it's full of clichés.All the characters are lacking in depth. 'Game' tries to be slick but the pacing is dreadful. There are so many scenes that just drag on and the slow motion, well, Bollywood movies should stop using that altogether. The flashbacks are repetitive and the background score is awful. The songs range from abysmal to forgettable. Abhishek Bachchan delivers yet another horrendous performance. His attempt to play cool, smart and charming is laughable. Kangana Ranaut is just as bad. She's mostly just doing the smell-the-fart act with her lips pursed. Shahana Goswami looks hot but she is wasted as is Jimmy Shergill. Boman Irani is loud and annoying as usual. On the plus side, 'Game' does capture the beauty of the locations it was shot in. Obviously, a lot of money has been thrown into this. Istanbul definitely looks appealing. So Turkey could use this movie to attract tourists.

I just happened to watch it.the story is bad.

They just found what's so ever relation and last scene was bad and having just the proof of one fingerprint is pretty vague for billionaire.

The makers have ensured "Game" has all the ingredients a suspense thriller should encompass - style, sleek and surprises. Sadly there are not in palatable proportions, therefore as the plot thickens the content starts to give away the weight. The premise perhaps is an interesting read but translating it to a nail-biting viewing experience requires smart directorial sensibilities and precisely here Abhinay Deo spills the beans of a newcomer leading to an amateur end product. Additionally the end hardly makes you jump out of the seat as the breadcrumbs are so prominently highlighted in the narrative that the audience is denied of playing guessing game.

ᴥ Junior B:: Suave & confident with some great tongue-in-cheek lines.

ᴥ Sarah Jane Dias:: Her character though central to the premise hardly leaves an impact owing to the soul-less performance.

ᴥ Kangana:: Attempt clearly inspired by Lara Croft which sadly falls flat. Her body language and expressions don't really pull off the feat. Bipasha perhaps?

ᴥ Anupam Kher & Boman Irani:: Reliable as usual.

ᴥ Jimmy Shergill, Shahana Goswami & Gauhar Khan:: Hardly any meat in the role.

Songs hardly register. The inflated production costs are owing to the unwarranted foreign locales. The best thing about "Game" is the editing which has ensured the length is no more than audience staging a walkout.

"Race" is an ideal benchmark on how a suspense thriller should be delivered.

PS: Under the watchful supervision of Mr. Perfectionist it wouldn't be a surprise if Abhinay reclaims lost ground in his next outing (Delhi- Belly).