| Reindeer Games | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Frankenheimer |
| Produced by | Marty Katz Chris Moore Bob Weinstein |
| Written by | Ehren Kruger |
| Starring | Ben Affleck Gary Sinise Charlize Theron |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Alan Caso |
| Editing by | Antony Gibbs Michael Kahn |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films |
| Release date(s) | February 25, 2000 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$42 million[1] |
| Box office | $32,168,970[1] |
Reindeer Games (also known as Deception[2]) is a 2000 American film, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, and Charlize Theron. It was Frankenheimer's final theatrically released film and received poor reviews.
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Several unidentified dead men dressed as Santa Claus are shown in various positions. Six days earlier, Nick and Rudy are cellmates in prison three days away from release; Rudy is incarcerated for grand theft auto. Nick has been corresponding with a young woman named Ashley, who is waiting for him on the outside. When Nick is killed during a prison uprising, Rudy takes his place and lets the beautiful Ashley think he is the one who has been writing her the love letters. Before long, Rudy discovers that pretending to be Nick was not such a good idea after all, as some fellow criminals intend to use him for their own purposes—robbing the casino at which Nick used to work on Christmas Eve. Gabriel, the leader of a gang who assaults Rudy and Ashley in their cabin, claims to be Ashley's brother, rather than an old enemy of Nick's as Rudy initially assumes. Ashley knew that Gabriel was going to kidnap and force Rudy to assist in the robbery, rather than being surprised at Gabriel's abduction of Rudy. Rudy eventually learns that Ashley is in cahoots with Gabriel, rather than being the reluctant, abused sister that Rudy thinks she is.
The group robs the casino, each dressed as Santa Claus. They are able to subdue the security guards and two police officers before grabbing millions in the cash cage. Gabriel asks Rudy where the "PowWow safe" is, where Rudy had earlier claimed contained embezzled money. When Rudy correctly guesses it is behind the manager's liquor cabinet, Gabriel has the manager open the safe. When he opens it, he grabs guns from inside and kills one of the robbers as the rest flee. Rudy kills another one of the robbers and is then grabbed by Gabriel and Ashley who tie him up in their truck. They plan to drive him off the edge of a cliff in a burning vehicle located in the truck, but Rudy is able to play Ashley off of Gabriel. Ashley shoots and kills Gabriel and before she is about to shoot Rudy, Nick appears, having staged his death at the prison. Rudy learns that the two had collaborated to rob the casino using Rudy and other thieves. Nick also informs Rudy that the 6 months of stories were to set him up to take his place and Nick knew he would because Rudy's predictable.
After they tie Rudy to the steering wheel to drive off the cliff (so there are 5 dead Santas to match the 5 live ones that walked into the casino), he produces a hidden knife and begins to cut his bindings. After he rewires the car, he reminds them that putting a car thief behind the wheel isn't a good idea. He then sets it to reverse and crushes Nick. After Ashley begins firing at him, he rams the car into her and dives out of the vehicle as the car with her on the hood falls down the cliff. When a still alive but seriously hurt Nick tries to convince Rudy that they can share the money, Rudy locks him in the truck and also sends it down the cliff, resulting in an explosion. Rudy picks up the stolen cash and begins distributing it in mailboxes he comes across on the way home, thinking of the things he wants to do once he arrives.
The film was based in Michigan's upper peninsula but was shot in Vancouver and Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.
Reindeer Games received generally poor reviews and lost expectations at achieving commercial success. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 25% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 87 reviews, with an average score of 4.2/10.[3] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 from reviews by mainstream critics, gave a film rating of 37/100 based on 33 reviews.[3] Theron considered it her worst film,[4] saying that "Reindeer Games was not a good movie, but I did it because I loved John Frankenheimer."[5] A CNN review said: "Reindeer Games isn't at the bottom of his creative barrel, but it's close."[2] On a $42 million budget, the film grossed $32,168,970 worldwide.[1]
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