Summary

• The Game's ending leaves audiences disoriented, questioning what's real and what's a lie until the dramatic conclusion reveals the truth.
• Michael Douglas shines as lead in David Fincher's twisty thriller, depicting a cynical character's journey through elaborate schemes and deceptions.
• The Game offers a glimpse into the power of second chances, drawing inspiration from classic tales of empathy and transformation like A Christmas Carol.

With so many twists and elaborate lies in David Fincher’s 1997 thriller, The Game ending leaves the audience with a lot of questions. Michael Douglas stars as Nicholas Van Orton, a jaded, lonely businessman who has shut himself off from human connection. When Nicholas’s brother gifts him a mysterious experience with the enigmatic Consumer Recreation Services (CRS), he finds himself disorientated by a labyrinthine network of deceptions and schemes, all executed in service of the sinister “game." The audience shares in this disorientation, unsure of what’s real and what’s a lie until the The Game reaches its dramatic, layered conclusion.

The Game received a lukewarm critical and commercial reception upon its release, but its rewarding, endlessly rewatchable plot has withstood the test of time, and it's now considered one of David Fincher’s best movies. The able cast finds a powerful lead in Douglas, whose cynical edge justifies CRS’s extreme measures and succeeds in binding The Game closer to the classic tale that lies at the heart of this twisty thriller. With Douglas’s brooding everyman, and in Fincher’s deft hands, the truth behind The Game, its many lies, and the characters caught within slowly begin to emerge by the movie's ending.

What Happened In The Game’s Ending?

Nicholas Reaches The End Of The Game

Toward the end of The Game, when Nicholas is left for dead in Mexico, the assumption is that he has finally broken free of CRS’s script. However, they are still in control. Everything up until Nicholas throws himself from the roof, landing in the party, is still in the game.

Christine must pretend that the game has gone wrong in order for Nicholas to believe he has actually shot his brother Conrad

The panic expressed by Christine (Deborah Kara Unger) at the sight of Nicholas’s “real” gun and her revelation that they’re still in the game is part of the game. Christine must pretend that the game has gone wrong in order for Nicholas to believe he has actually shot his brother Conrad (Sean Penn). In order for the “death” to be in Nicholas’s hands, she must admit that Conrad is outside, betting that he won’t believe her.

CRS’s game is more than an elaborate prank. Their goal is to bring Nicholas to his lowest point spiritually, where he is willing to throw himself off a roof so that they can show him he has a second chance at life. The plan goes smoothly for CRS, but they can’t possibly predict Nicholas’s every move.

It’s safe to assume they have multiple contingency plans prepared for whatever choices Nicholas makes.

It’s safe to assume they have multiple contingency plans prepared for whatever choices Nicholas makes. At the end of the movie, The Game offers a glimpse at the breadth of preparations CRS has taken when one of their employees admits that if Nicholas didn’t jump, he was tasked with throwing him off the roof.

Why Did Nicholas Need The Game?

The Experience Gives Nicholas A Second Chance

When The Game begins, Nicholas is isolated, cynical, and stagnant. He lives alone in a vast mansion and estranges himself from those who truly care for him, including his brother and his ex-wife (Anna Katarina). To top things off, Nicholas has just turned 48, the same age at which his father died by suicide, jumping from the roof of the very house in which Nicholas now lives. The Game depicts Nicholas as haunted by his father’s death and living out a cycle that may even end the same way.

Nicholas doesn’t believe in second chances.

At one point in The Game, Nicholas meets with Anson Baer (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a publishing head whom Nicholas fires for not meeting shareholder expectations. Baer begs for a second chance, but Nicholas doesn’t believe in second chances. Nicholas is not interested in attempting another relationship since his failed marriage, nor in attempting to live life differently from his father.

The purpose of the game is to shake Nicholas from his cynical complacency, forcing him to take action, to recognize all that he has and all that he could have. To quote Conrad at The Game’s ending, “I had to do something; you were becoming such an a**hole.”

Was The Game A Scam?

Nicholas Was Told CRS Was Robbing Him

As the movie progresses, Nicholas comes to believe that the game is not actually an entertainment experience, but an elaborate means of robbing people. Conrad tells Nicholas that CRS has been harassing him for money, and Christine admits that CRS is only interested in draining Nicholas’s bank accounts.

The game may not be a scam, but it certainly isn’t cheap.

However, this all turns out to be part of the game. Getting Nicholas to believe he’s at the mercy of a sinister organization is all part of pushing him into action. Still, Nicholas’s reaction to CRS’s bill at The Game’s ending implies that the cost is exorbitant. The game may not be a scam, but it certainly isn’t cheap.

Why Did Nicholas’ Lawyer Tell Him His Bank Balance Was Untouched?

Sutherland Was Unaware Of The Game's Elaborate Lie

When Nicholas believes his bank accounts have been completely drained, a contradictory call from his lawyer, Sutherland (Peter Donat), states that his accounts are completely intact. This is because, unlike most of the characters in The Game, Sutherland is not in on the game. Nicholas’s calls to his bank were actually rerouted to CRS, but they don’t expect him to call his attorney.

When Sutherland calls Nick back and tells him the truth, Christine is caught off-guard for the first time. Forced to come up with a lie on the fly, Christine tells Nicholas that Sutherland is part of the conspiracy. When Sutherland shows up at the party, he confirms he has “no clue” what the game is.

Was Christine & Nicholas’ Connection Real?

The Game's Ending Suggests They Have A Future

Christine is Nicholas’s tentative ally for a significant portion of The Game​​​​​​, and the two have obvious chemistry. At their first meeting’s ending, Christine admits that she finds Nicholas attractive. When they see each other again, the connection is again clear, but no romantic moves are made, and Christine betrays Nicholas. When all is revealed, it’s apparent that Christine was never real, and Nicholas knows nothing about the woman who played her, Clare.

Still, the connection between Nicholas and “Christine" wasn’t based on common interests, but an underlying chemistry. Their mutual attraction to one another is confirmed at The Game’s ending, as Clare agrees to go out with Nicholas.

The Real Meaning Of The Game’s Ending

Fincher Draws Inspiration From A Christmas Carol

Beneath the shocking twists and thrills of The Game’s ending, the movie attempts to connect audiences with the values of an older, more fantastical story. The Game, while not strictly another adaptation of A Christmas Carol, can be interpreted as a reimagining of the classic Charles Dickens story. David Fincher even likens Nicholas to the novel’s protagonist, calling him a “fashionable, good-looking Scrooge."

The Game thus modernizes the hundred-year-old text while reaffirming the timeless power of Dickens’s tale of empathy and second chances.

Both characters are rich, isolated men who have chosen money and the world of business over human connection. Nicholas’s brother shows up like Jacob Marley’s ghost at the film’s beginning, reminding Nicholas of a death from his past and preparing him for the journey ahead. The most striking comparison comes when Nicholas is buried alive. His emergence from a tomb in a Mexican graveyard calls to mind the scene in A Christmas Carol where Scrooge is shown his own grave.

When The Game is considered in this light, the ending takes on an even greater resonance. CRS, like the Ghost of Christmas Future, also shows Nicholas his own potential death by having him throw himself off the roof. When Nicholas hits the airbag, he, like Ebenezer Scrooge, is given a second chance at life. The Game thus modernizes the hundred-year-old text while reaffirming the timeless power of Dickens’s tale of empathy and second chances.

How The Game Ending Compares To Other Fincher Endings

Fincher Has Delivered Triumphant And Dark Movie Endings That Compare To The Game