Quintessential Mamet. House of Games was his directorial debut, believe it or not. For those who like their thrillers to be emotionally and psychologically acute, then this is the movie for you. For Mamet, every piece of dialogue holds the same importance as a shot composition. And he knows how to frame it within the proper context. The film contains enough twists and turns to keep the casual fans occupied, but look deeper and you'll discover a sharp reflection on the human condition.

I wish Mamet still made movies like this.

The best thing that happened in the '80s, and that includes the birth of my entire generation

First time out, Mamet didn't know was he or was he not ever gonna get a second crack. In such a situation you already ought know Mamet gonna Mamet.
Mamet gonna Mamet as good and straight and hard as he can and fuck to all the rest of it behind him.
He did. He did that thing, Mamet.
He did that thing.

didn't love this when i first saw it but i found a lot more to like this time. I'm a huge sucker for Mamet's dialogue and even if this showcases some of his typical issues writing female characters and maybe has one twist too many, the plot is pretty tight. cast is great too.

DVD (Criterion) - David Mamet & Ricky Jay Commentary

I like Con Men movies and I like Mamet. This was good. I liked it very much and there were strong performance by all the lead actors.

Solid flick.

I’m such a fan of David Mamet’s dialogue and even though most of the performances here are rather rigid I was still enthralled. I found it easy to see through the big con—and I can certainly see the argument that it was Mamet’s intention to make it readily apparent—but I really got took by that ending. Major props to Joe Mantegna as he really carries this whole picture.

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched this after The Spanish Prisoner. It’s always great to see Ricky Jay and enjoy Mamet’s dialogue, but this whole movie was much more strained.

This is a mesmerizing debut for Mamet... Well it is right up until the end of the 2nd act. He's so good at writing about cons, that you start to see how he is trying to con the audience.

A grifter film for the ages.

Much of it hums as one would expect from Mamet, other parts are painfully wooden to the point where I said "did they not have film on hand for another take?"
Mantegna and the one scene with Jay are really great.
"Excuse me, could you tell me what that is on the BOO-fey" is really not.