Reindeer Games

REVIEW
Screenwriter Ehren Kruger has apparently bought a Usual Suspects-brand Mad Libs, filling in clichés for the blanks and spitting out this arbitrary thriller. Affleck plays Rudy (get it?), a car thief who gets out of jail and hooks up with his late-cellmate's girlfriend (Theron), and is trapped into a scheme to rob a casino way up North with her evil brother (Sinise). It's hard to say more, since the twists are so convoluted, yet dozing off for a few minutes won't hamper your ability to keep up. The plot's machinations are driven by a need to have twists, rather than out of any logic or character; attempts by the characters to explain the wild coincidences only highlight the inanity. Frankenheimer does his best, but he also unwittingly amplifies the story's problems. And if Affleck ever becomes a top action star, then the Apocalypse may well be nigh.