Michael Douglas is perfectly cast as the increasingly desperate pawn in this visually stylish thriller from Se7en director David Fincher, which successfully cranks up the suspense and continually questions what's real and what isn't. When hard-nosed businessman Douglas is given the ultimate birthday present by his brother Sean Penn - the chance to play an all-encompassing "reality game" that promises life-changing consequences - he gets swept into what he perceives as a paranoid conspiracy. Sadly, what starts off as a fascinating tale soon becomes glossy and trivial.

In honor of his birthday, San Francisco banker Nicholas Van Orton, a financial genius and a cold-hearted loner, receives an unusual present from his younger brother, Conrad: a gift certificate to play a unique kind of game. In nary a nanosecond, Nicholas finds himself consumed by a dangerous set of ever-changing rules, unable to distinguish where the charade ends and reality begins.