House of Games

Margaret Ford is a psychiatrist who has achieved success with her recently published book about obsessive-compulsive disorder, yet feels unfulfilled. During a session one day, her patient Billy Hahn tells her his life is in danger because he owes money to a criminal figure named Mike Mancuso, and threatens suicide, brandishing a gun. Margaret persuades him to surrender the weapon to her and promises that she will help him.

That night, Margaret visits a pool hall called the House of Games, where she finds and confronts Mike, who says that he is willing to forgive Billy's debt if Margaret accompanies him to a back-room poker game and identifies the tell of George, another player. She agrees, and spots George playing with his ring when he bluffs. She discloses this to Mike, who calls the bluff. However, George wins the hand and demands that Mike pay the $6,000 bet, which he is unable to do. George pulls a gun, but Margaret intervenes and offers to pay the debt with a personal check. She then notices that the gun is a water pistol, and realizes the entire game is a set-up to trick her out of her money. She declines to pay, but spends the rest of the night socializing with the con men. As the experience has excited her, she returns the next night and asks Mike to teach her about con games so she can write a book about the experience. Mike appears skeptical, but agrees.

Mike begins to enchant Margaret by showing her simple tricks. Eventually, the two steal a hotel room and have sex. Afterward, Mike tells Margaret that all con artists take a small token from every "mark" to signify their dominance. While Mike is in the bathroom, she takes a small pocket knife from the table belonging to the room occupant. Mike tells her he is late for another, large-scale con he and his associates plan to pull at the same hotel. Margaret is eager to tag along, and with seeming reluctance, Mike allows her to accompany him, posing as his wife. The con involves Mike, his partner Joey, and the "mark", a businessman, discovering a briefcase full of money and taking it to a hotel room. There, they discuss whether to turn it in or split it among themselves. When the "mark" withdraws to the bathroom, Margaret discovers that he is an undercover policeman, and the trick is a sting operation. She warns Mike, and they attempt to escape, but the policeman blocks their way and tries to arrest them. After a struggle, Margaret accidentally causes the policeman to fatally shoot himself. She, Mike and Joey escape to the garage, where they force Margaret to steal a car and drive past two uniformed police officers with the con men concealed in the back seat. They drive the car to a riverbank and are preparing to abandon it when they discover that the briefcase, containing $80,000 borrowed from the mafia for the con, is gone. Margaret offers to give Mike $80,000 of her own money so he can pay back the mob.

Mike tells Margaret that they must split up so as not to draw any attention from the police, and claims to be going into hiding. Riddled with guilt, Margaret returns to her office and refuses to see any patients. Billy arrives in high spirits, and after a brief conversation, she spots him driving away in the same red convertible she "stole" at the hotel. She tracks him to a bar, where she sees Mike and a group including all his associates, the man posing as the occupant of the hotel room, and the undercover policeman, discussing the night's events - a scheme to con Margaret out of $80,000. She also learns that the pocket knife she stole from the hotel room belongs to Mike, who set up the room beforehand to look like it was occupied and who mocks Margaret for stealing it.

Margaret intercepts Mike at the airport after overhearing him say he is catching a flight that night and tells him she is so worried about the police that she has withdrawn her entire life's savings. She pleads with him to start a new life with her. Mike is lured by the money, but realizes he is being tricked when she inadvertently says that she was the one who stole "his" pocket knife, revealing that she overheard the con men's conversation. He tells her her money has already been split up and is gone, but she pulls out the gun taken from Billy and demands that he beg for his life. Calling her bluff, Mike refuses, but Margaret shoots him in the leg. When Mike then curses her, she shoots him five more times, killing him. She calmly conceals the gun and leaves.

Some time later, Margaret has returned from a vacation, she has written another successful book and is meeting her friend and colleague Dr. Littauer. They talk over lunch, and Margaret says, "When you've done something unforgivable, you must forgive yourself, and that's what I've done, and it's done." While her friend is away from the table, Margaret distracts another diner so she can steal a gold lighter from her purse, relishing the thrill.

• Lindsay Crouse as Dr. Margaret Ford
• Joe Mantegna as Mike Mancuso
• Steven Goldstein as Billy Hahn
• Ricky Jay as George
• Mike Nussbaum as Joey
• J. T. Walsh as the Businessman
• Lilia Skala as Dr. Maria Littauer
• William H. Macy as Sgt. Moran

Describing the structure of the film as "diabolical and impeccable", Roger Ebert gave the film his highest rating: 4 stars. "This movie is awake. I have seen so many films that were sleepwalking through the debris of old plots and second-hand ideas that it was a constant pleasure to watch House of Games."[3] Ebert later included the film in his list of Great Movies.[4] Calling the film "a wonderfully devious comedy", Vincent Canby also gave it a thumbs up. "Mr. Mamet, poker player and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, makes a fine, completely self-assured debut directing his original screenplay. Sometimes he's bluffing outrageously, but that's all right too."[5] Striking a contrary note, The Washington Post saw Mamet as "rechewing film noir, Hitchcock twists and MacGuffins, as well as the Freudian mumbo-jumbo already masticated tasteless by so many cine-kids."[6] It holds a 96% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[7] Dialogue from the film was sampled by the British pop group Saint Etienne on their first album Foxbase Alpha on the track "Etienne Gonna Die".

In August 2007, the Criterion Collection released a special edition of Mamet's film on DVD. Among the supplemental material included are an audio commentary with Mamet and Ricky Jay, new interviews with actors Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna, and a short documentary shot on location during the film's production.[8]

Playwright Richard Bean adapted Mamet's script for a production at the Almeida Theatre, London, in September 2010. To meet the confines of the medium the stage version is set in just two locations, and the final resolution between Mike and Margaret is softened. Critical reaction to Bean's version was mixed: Michael Billington found only a "pointless exercise", but Charles Spencer thought that the stage version delivered "far better value than the original picture".[9][10]

• House of Games at IMDb
• House of Games at AllMovie
• House of Games at Rotten Tomatoes
• House of Games at Box Office Mojo
• House of Games at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Roger Ebert's "Great Movies – House of Games"
• House of Games: On Your Mark an essay by Kent Jones at the Criterion Collection