Reindeer Games

Reindeer Games (alternatively titled Deception) is a 2000 American action thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer in his final feature directorial outing before his 2002 death. It stars Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, Dennis Farina, James Frain, Donal Logue, Danny Trejo and Clarence Williams III. The film revolves around ex-convict Rudy Duncan, who is dragged into a situation against his will: he must help a group of thieves rob a casino in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, or he will be killed. Reindeer Games was released by Miramax Films on February 25, 2000. It received generally negative critical reception and was a box office failure, grossing $32 million against a budget of $42 million. Plot In a prison near Iron Mountain, Michigan, cellmates Nick Cassidy and Rudy Duncan are two days from release. Nick has been exchanging letters with a young woman named Ashley Mercer, although they have never met. He plans to meet Ashley after being released, while Rudy wants to join his family in Sidnaw for Christmas. A fight then breaks out in the prison, and Nick is supposedly killed while protecting Rudy. Upon release, Rudy poses as Nick and meets Ashley. They go to a diner then have sex in a cabin. The two are then kidnapped by Gabriel, Ashley’s gang leader brother. He tells Rudy that the gang, composed of Pug, Merlin, and Jumpy, are planning to rob a casino where Nick used to work before going to prison. Rudy protests that he is not Nick, but Ashley reveals that she wrote to him knowing Gabriel would use him for the robbery. Realizing that he will likely be killed if they learn that he knows nothing about the casino, Rudy resumes the ruse.