Rating: 3.5/5
Criterion Challenge 2024 | 9/52 | Criterion Staff Picks
CW // Suicide, Mental Illness, Misogyny, Sexual Assault, Murder, Blood
A woman in red pulls a book from her bag — Driven: Obsession and Compulsion in Everyday Life by Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse). She turns the book, finding the author’s photo at the back. Another woman buys coffee nearby. Sure enough, it’s Dr. Ford. The woman in red chases after Dr. Ford, stopping her so that Dr. Ford may sign her book.
Cut to Dr. Ford taking notes in a session with Katherine.
— I'm talking to you. Do you think that you're exempt? — That I'm exempt from what? — Experience.
Dr. Ford meets with her mentor, Dr. Maria Littauer, to discuss her findings with Katherine. Dr. Ford tries to rush off, but Dr. Littauer tells her to slow down and appreciate her recent success from her book.
Her next client, Billy Hahn, talks about his compulsive gambling. Again, he points to Dr. Ford’s life as merely talking and not helping anyone. He pulls a pistol out of his pocket.
— You want to help me? You can't help because, babe, you don't know what trouble is. — Billy, I swear to you. Give me the gun, and I will help you.
Billy hands it over and discloses that he owes a substantial amount of gambling debt. If he doesn’t pay it tomorrow, a man named Mike (Joe Mantegna) will kill him.
Later that night, Dr. Ford remains true to her word. She confronts Mike at his establishment, The House of Games. Straight away, we see the situation isn’t as Billy painted it. Still, Dr. Ford takes the bait and agrees to Mike’s terms. She gets a taste for a thrill that she cannot escape.
The best con movies reveal everything from the start. If you see it, you experience the thrill of seeing everything come together. If you don’t, you get the pleasure of the revelation. Some will trade the clever clockwork for knotty twists, like Oceans Eleven. Others smugly show their cards at the end, assuming the audience is too stupid to put it together, like The Usual Suspects.
Mamet provides both avenues through his movie — if you’ve seen the same films he has, then the moment Mike shows up, you know what’s happening. Otherwise, Dr. Ford is your surrogate, and you ride with her.
The classic noir soundtrack with the cymbal hiss is satisfying.
The movie’s psychotherapy is nonsense that only serves the plot. Not only that, but every character is equally intimate with Freudian psychoanalysis. It’s a tad trite.
Overall, this movie is a lot of fun. Much of it feels a little familiar, but it never gets dull.