Customer Reviews

Game 6

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the kind of movie I used to enjoy seeing a couple of times a year and now see, oh, about once every 10 years or so. An incredibly interesting, odd, provocative movie, that doesn't insult its audience. The acting is phenomenal, the script is really interesting, and the characters are not people you've seen 1000 times before. Although it's sort of about baseball, it's not a baseball movie. It's a pity that so few people want to see interesting movies like this. I loved this movie.

I recently attended the premiere in New York City of Game 6 and was frankly surpised and amazed by what I saw. To me, Micheal Keaton is Batman, Bebe Neuwirth was Lilith, Robert Downey Jr., is well, Robert Downey Jr. What I watched was an amazing story from the master story teller, Don DeLillo, that was full of character, sub plots and great dialog. Keaton, as Ebert and Rober said, gave the first Oscar worthy performance of 2006. His character is torn between his passion for his play that tells the story of his family which opens that evening and watching his beloved Red Soxs in the sixth game of the World Series.

This is not a baseball film, nor is it a theater film. This is a film about people. For anyone that wants to see strong performances deliver great lines under wonderful direction from Michael Hoffman, I highly recommend this film.

Game 6 is a charming and funny movie with Keaton playing a playwright who's afraid of failure. In a tough time in his life, his wife wants a divorce, he thinks a tough critic is destined to hate his play and his cursed team the Red Sox could finally win the World Series. A good reason why his play might fail though is because his lead actor has a parisite in his brain and he can't remember his lines. Keaton is perfect here and for once Ebert & Roeper were right. Although I didn't love the movie as much as them, I do agree about Keaton. People are way too hard on this guy and call him a bad actor. Meanwhile there's also tons of people out there that think he was the best Batman ever.

What I find funny though is that they don't say HOW or WHAT makes him a bad actor. Because you can't, they're just hating on the guy for no reason. Who else could've actually pulled off the part of BeetleJuice without it ruining their career ? Keaton did and he was perfect in that too. Roeper says that Keaton should get nominated for this but that just won't happen. The reason why is that sadly people saw him more in his bad movies like Herbie Fully Loaded, Jack Frost, White Noise and the Presidents Daughter than they saw him in this. Those got big releases all over the world when this film is on dvd alreday. It's pretty sad since this is a good Michael Keaton movie. When he gets offered a movie with a big hollywood release, the script is bad and not worthy of his skill.

The film also has great supporting work, especially from people like Robert Downey jr. He Plays the critic that Keaton thinks is going to totally bash his play. Downey jr. gives a strange but fun Christoper Walken type permformance here. When him and Keaton finally have a scene together it's just excellent with fine acting between the two. This probably isn't a film everyone will appreciate but they should at least give it a try.

Don DeLillo wrote this movie. I could end the review right there for he is one of our very best American writers of the last few decades. I remember when I first read his novel WHITE NOISE, thinking "I haven't read anything this good in years." But we got even more fortunate because Michael Keaton, who most viewers dismiss as only a comic, is a great character actor and he delivers the goods here. In a nutshell his play opens on Broadway one night but he isn't there as his beloved Boston Red Sox are in the World Series and in his world, nothing trumps that. Keaton's interpretation of this loves to be miserable playwright is nothing short of brilliant. He captures every nuance. Robert Downey Jr. does a wonderful turn as a theater critic. SEE THIS!

I'm actually a bit surprised by my reaction to "Game 6." It seemed to be a movie that had many ingredients that I would appreciate. I know it got some positive reviews, I liked the cast, I'm a fan of Don DeLillo's novels, I'm fascinated by the whole Red Sox "curse," and I have a love of theater (the lead is a successful playwright). That encompasses pretty much every element in the film, but for some inexplicable reason--this movie did not connect with me at all. So, I'm genuinely pleased that many people have embraced this small film--however, this was (for me) a slight character study in which I didn't believe any of the characters were even remotely realistic.

The film is set in New York as Michael Keaton's new play is about to be unveiled, which also happens to coincide with a pivotal World Series game--one that might finally break the decades-old Red Sox "curse." Set largely as "scenes" or vignettes, Keaton wanders the city bumping into various characters for random discourse. He waxes philosophical and nostalgically with a half dozen cab drivers about his youth spent driving a cab. He runs into his daughter, he runs into an old friend played by Griffin Dunne, he has an assignation with his mistress, has a meeting with his wife. There is so much randomness in the timing of all these encounters that it gets to be a bit much--aside from purposefully seeing his mistress, the other events just happen by chance. It's a lot of activity for such an important day.

Worried about his play being reviewed negatively by the leading critic, who is notorious for his scathing reviews--somehow, he takes up a gun!?!? I found it all rather nonsensical, but maybe that's just me. He ends up skipping his premiere and watching the big game with a lady cab driver and her grandson (of course). Speaking with such eloquent platitudes, these conversations are so far removed from how people speak--and the grandson is a fountain of wisdom for such a young age. Somewhere along the way, Keaton decides to murder the critic (played interestingly by Robert Downey, Jr). I never took this leap of faith--but I'm glad it happened because the scenes between Keaton and Downey are the film's best. But it wasn't enough for me.

The performances are good. Downey is particularly in his element--although I'm not sure that if I were attending the theater incognito, I'd dress like a bandmate from A Flock of Seagulls. Bebe Neuwirth and Catherine O' Hara both do nice work (as mistress and wife, respectively) in rather oddly timed encounters. (After being told O'Hara doesn't want to see him by his daughter, she later tracks him down at a bar--not the theater--to have a divorce talk. That's convenient.) The scenes in the theater are interesting, this might have been a story I wanted to follow more closely. But, ultimately, I just didn't believe these people, this dialogue, and these situations. Played more as fantasy or comedy, maybe it would have worked better. But for a film that tried to be meaningful and insightful, I guess it ended up falling on deaf ears. I truly hope you'll enjoy it more than I did. KGHarris, 01/07.

I loved this movie. Ebert & Roper are right. The cast is solid..every performance.Being a sports fan, I die with Keaton in the bar.This movie is so much better than most of the junk out there.A great "sit"

Now when I heard the title of Game 6, I thought they were going to have a movie that of a bnasbeall game that took place in 1986, 20 years later, but in this movie it does take place during 1 day in October of 1986, when the Boston Red Sox met the New York Mets, (yes I did say the Mets, and not the Yankees) in game 6 at Shea Stadium. The Main character of the movie Nicky Rogan (Michael Keaton) is a Boston Red Sox fan, and also is a broadway writer/director, and it is also the openning night of his new play. Now this guy takes more rides in Taxis then I have ever seen a character in another movie, and this guy also has problems going in his life. The play is at Music Box Theater, and to have your new play open on the same day, as your team is playing in the World Series. This is the game that the baseball went through Bill Buckner's legs, and the Mets went on to win the World Series, but the good news for Boston Red Sox fans, that within 20 years since the game took place, they got to see thier team win the World Series. Nicky is about to be dirvoced from his wife (Catherine O'Hara), and also a theatre critic named Steven Schwimmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is going to be in attendance at the play, and it going to hate it, and he is warned by best friend, that also had a play that was ripped by him (. And on top of that, his dad (Tom Aldredge) is in poor health, and his daughter (Ari Graynor) is fed up with having to take sides when her parents fight, any child would get tired of doing this, but the good news for her father that she is going to see his play, and even tries to get her to bring a date to the show. The best thing I can say about this movie that it is 83 minutes long, so you can enjoy this mvoie, even if you hate movies that run a long time.

As a Mets fan and a physicist, this movie strikes a special resonance with me. This is not primarily a baseball film, but a baseball theme forms an important sub-plot. The Michael Keaton character is a playwright and obsessive Red Sox fan. (Aren't they all!) My nephew, who works for the Red Sox radio station in Boston, was foolish enough to leave the following question on his answering machine: "What was the greatest moment in sports history?" I had no hesitation in informing him that it was the event of the tenth inning of the 1986 World Series that no Red Sox fan can ever forget. My nephew soon changed his away message.

Since my training is in quantum mechanics, I am partial to the Many Worlds formulation, which says that every time an event has multiple possible outcomes, each outcome occurs in its own parallel universe. I believe that we have evidence that we do live in a very improbable parallel world. We can trace the branching of our world from the more probable universe to the bottom of the tenth in 1986 when Mookie Wilson's ground ball eluded Bill Buckner's glove.

I did not see this movie when it first came out. However, when I did get to see it recently, the physicist in me could not help but to admire the insertion of the Many Worlds of quantum mechanics into the story. The Mets fan could not help laughing. If you are a physicist/Mets fan, this is your movie.

I really got into this little (and with a budget of a half maillion I mean little) movie..and was locked in for the very brief 80+ minute ride. The acting is excellent...and I really felt every character. It has nothing in common with the big budget CGI films dominating the DVD racks but more in common with something like "Doubt" ..a small group of characters who the viewer becomes emotionally attached to very quickly and enter their world. The story may be a bit more effective on people like myself who are sports fans and a bit lost on those who aren't but they can perhaps enjoy the theatre angle a bit more than I did. The movie features some very big name stars in small roles and it certainly doesn't LOOK cheap....very beautifully lit and photographed....just a little gem of a film I felt lucky to see and it made me think about it for the whole day after I saw it. Michael Keaton was just brilliant.

My interest in this movie was not box office popularity or the sports theme - it was about the actors Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr. They did not disappoint - and this movie ended up being one of those hidden movie gems that introduce deeper thought than the sacrificial Game 6 sports drama of the Boston Red Sox.

Keaton and Downey Jr. are at the top of their game, as well as the writer with his intelligent use of metaphor's to portray parallels between the Red Sox losing legacy and situations in each of the actors characters lives.

Great acting (classic Michael Keaton / Robert Downey Jr.), and an intelligent and suspenseful, well written plot.

An entertaining and Intelligent movie!