/-
7c
dumped in a Mexican hellhole, we feel
his pain. He's a jerk, but a vaguely
humanized jerk. And when he gets a
big pistol and demands answers, that
leads to the morally fated reworking of
the "primal scene," the suicidal leap of
his dad that stunted Nick's life and
made him a business creep (this is
what pop movies call psychology).
So, it's only a movie, just a game.
But The Game starts off with a false
premise (a rabid control freak like
Nick would never consent to a game
he doesn't believe he can soon master).
It moves on to absurdities, with Nick
doing dumb things to keep him on
the game board of torment. This rich,
connected guy can pull no strings, the
police throw up their hands, and even
dear Carroll Baker is useless except for
making snacks.
The film hits its marks, but it's like a
belabored Hitchcock story designed by
a computer virus. Almost everyone in it
is a touch nasty, brittle with sour atti-
tude. The plot steamrolls us, without
the macabre fun of The Most Dangerous
Game, the chic flair of The Tenth
Victim, or the arch cleverness of Sleuth.
Instead, The Game feels like a cor-
porate expansion of Misery, with the
tormented writer (James Caan)
replaced by a business fanatic who
incarnates the film's real values. I never
thought I'd miss Kathy Bates in that
torture party, but at least, unlike CSR,
she has a human face. Rated R.
##
Reviewed by David Elliott.
* * *
* * *
* * .
4. . .
No Stars
earthy
.Mixed
.:Forget It
Movie reviews are written by
David Elliott, film. critic for The
San Diego Union- " b sne and
News Service . David Elliott is a
former film critic far 'L 54 today
and the Chicago 13aily News
Nan Fink's delusional and self-aggrandized account
of her life is a difficult read.
s a convert to Judaism and a
writer for the Jewish press, I
readily volunteered to review
an Fink's account of her
own conversion and her experiences in
the Jewish community in her autobiog-
raphy Stranger In The Midst: A Memoir
of Spiritual Discovery (BasicBooks
1997).
I couldn't wait to see what interested
her about Judaism, what drove her to
jump into the mikvah's waters, if she
liked and disliked the same things I did
about my chosen religion.
Boy, was I disappointed!
Fink's journey depicts a life more
like a car spinning out of control than
of an individual in the driver's seat nav-
igating a thoughtful spiritual path.
She begins her life as a Protestant
from a wealthy family who shuns the
AN
/ -
/-) Jill
' Davidson Sklar converted to
Judaism after 12 years in Catholic
school.
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Book Review
/-
Mazel
position money brings. Then, she mar-
ries a Protestant minister and has three
children. Then, she becomes an atheist,
at about the same time she becomes a
self-proclaimed "'60s radical." Then,
she becomes and teacher and psy-
chotherapist and falls in love with an
Orthodox Jewish man, with whom she
founds Tikkun magazine, using some
of the wealth she shunned in the past.
Then, Fink and her husband break
up, and she leaves the magazine as well
as the Orthodox lifestyle to becomes a
secular Jew. Finally, she abandons het-
erosexuality in favor of a homosexual
relationship with a Buddhist.
All the while, Fink expects to have
all of her changes accepted readily by
the Jewish community. Although she
paints herself as an intellectual, she
doesn't seem to grasp why the
Orthodox community shuns her when
she is engaged in an interdating situa-
tion with a member of their communi-
ty. Nor does she understand why the
CONFUSED on page 117
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115