Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

DVD

Upcoming Release Calendar
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Recent DVD/Video Releases

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Reindeer Games

EMAILPRINTDimension Films

Reindeer Games reviews
37
3.7 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Ehren Kruger

Directed by: John Frankenheimer

Release Date:
Theatrical: February 25, 2000
DVD: August 8, 2000

Running Time: 105 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for strong violence, language and sexuality

Starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, and Donal Logue

The film enters the colorful and conniving world of lowlife criminals scheming to turn a straightened ex-con (Affleck) crooked again. (Dimension Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

One of the smartest action thrillers to come along in the past few years. It's also one of the freshest.

Read Full Review >
75

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

May not reinvent the wheel, but its expertly delivered thrills would hit the spot at any time of year.

Read Full Review >
75

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

Some movie-goers will be more annoyed than surprised by the finale.

Read Full Review >
67

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

He's (Affleck) vaguely likable, but he's outshone by his co-stars and never particularly believable in his role.

Read Full Review >
63

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

This new heist movie by the great thriller director John Frankenheimer flails around like its own dysfunctional gang of casino robbers.

Read Full Review >
60

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

A cleverly plotted, cleanly crafted matinee item -- pure entertainment on a romping continuum with Frankenheimer's "Ronin."

Read Full Review >
60

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It bristles with the brute force he brought to 1986's underrated "52 Pick-Up."

60

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The plot's preposterous and Affleck is way too callow for a role that would have fit Robert Mitchum like a second-hand suit.

Read Full Review >
50

Film.com Tom Keogh

Comes across as a deceptively streamlined comic-drama; an unnervingly violent, gritty film noir with a wink.

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The end is a long time coming in Reindeer Games and the dialogue is mostly slush.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The material here, written by Ehren Kruger, is beneath banal, and the three leads are so miscast that it's like watching a dress charade.

Read Full Review >
50

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Displays no ambition to be anything more than a synthetic sense-jolt conveyor of the week.

Read Full Review >
50

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

In this beautifully devious, exceptionally well-made entertainment, Mr. John Frankenheimer does it all, and more, with the assurance of an old master.

Read Full Review >
50

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

The best and worst of old school -- retro but stale. Frankenheimer, along with Ben Affleck, donates what cool there is.

Read Full Review >
50

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The out-of-control plot doesn't unfold gracefully or organically; it simply speeds along with no regard for anything other then getting to the next plot twist.

Read Full Review >
44

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

The picture, a would-be thriller, is a mechanical exercise from the get-go, one that positively defies suspension of disbelief with each succeeding twist of a plot no one would ever hatch in real life.

Read Full Review >
40

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Punishing, visceral violence is the key element.

Read Full Review >
40

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The movie is staged like a pit stop -- Reindeer Games goes from being fun to being laughable.

Read Full Review >
40

Slate David Edelstein

The picture is an empty parlor trick, but it's carried out with a master's concentration.

Read Full Review >
40

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Its twisty film noir world of down-on-their-luck men and unfathomable women is vintage B-picture material, but, in the grand B tradition, the games it plays are more ambitious than successful.

Read Full Review >
38

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

As late Christmas presents go, Reindeer Games is best left unwrapped.

Read Full Review >
38

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The first All Talking Killer picture. After the setup, it consists mostly of characters explaining their actions to one another.

Read Full Review >
30

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

By the time the closing credits roll, you're wondering if anyone else noticed that nothing made much sense.

Read Full Review >
30

Film.com Gemma Files

About an hour after you've seen it, you'll already be fuzzy on just who was screwing who, and why

Read Full Review >
30

Variety Todd McCarthy

With a far-fetched script that might barely have passed muster at the B units in the old studio days, this Dimension release will command a certain up-front attention due to cast topliners.

Read Full Review >
25

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

A director of Frankenheimer's stature deserves less sensationalistic material, and so does his audience.

Read Full Review >
25

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Without any believable characters or situations, Reindeer Games is about as appealing as leftover Christmas fruitcake.

Read Full Review >
25

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Affleck simply wasn't meant to play action heroes or tough guys. He's about as tough as tapioca pudding.

Read Full Review >
20

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

I had a pretty good time with this until the end, when I felt so soiled by the filmmakers' cynicism and the characters' gratuitous viciousness that I wanted to take a bath.

Read Full Review >
20

Newsweek Ann-Rebecca Laschever

The foreboding, dark camera-work is effective in setting the mood for this sinister, eye- popping, frequently ridiculous thriller.

Read Full Review >
20

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Here's a film that so merrily thumbs its nose at propriety in exchange for visceral thrills, and at probability in exchange for the really cool plot twist, that it checks in as the guiltiest pleasure since "The 13th Warrior."

Read Full Review >
20

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Ben Affleck provides a charismatic star turn, but John Frankenheimer's out-of-season heist thriller is dead on arrival.

Read Full Review >
8

Portland Oregonian Diana Abu-Jaber

While you may like comedies and you make like thrillers, this film does neither of the above with any pizazz.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 3.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nina M. gave it a10:
Director's Cut- Huge improvement over the original. Adds alot more character development along with even more action.

Pat C. gave it a 4:
Exciting, riveting and flashy, but in the end does not apply one device that is believable. Bah, Humbug.

Big Bad Mama gave it a 0:
Worst movie ever. completely not a triumph. die people who made this movie. bad movie. bad. hulk smash.

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use