'Reindeer' Dog By Desson Howe Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, February 25, 2000

Ben Affleck falls in love with Charlize Theron in "Reindeer Games." (Dimension)

He'd issue this simple statement: "I would like to respectfully ask all those mediocre, ambitious poseurs dreaming of rewriting 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Reservoir Dogs' to write their own movies. Please take your paws off my creative stash. Thank you very much."

He'd adjust his shades and walk away. Ving Rhames would glare at anyone trying to ask follow-up questions.

"Reindeer Games," directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Ben Affleck, doesn't even wait a decent interval before borrowing from Tarantino.

"Six days before," says the opening title, hiply imitating Tarantino's time-conscious approach to storytelling. (Actually, Tarantino was imitating the time structure of Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing.")

Anyway, six days before, right around Christmas, Rudy Duncan (Affleck) is finishing a short jail term for grand theft auto. (This is a crime any leading actor seeking to broaden his fan base can live with.) Rudy's cellmate is the weaselly Nick (James Frain), who keeps raving about Ashley (Charlize Theron), a beautiful woman who has suddenly started writing to him. Rudy looks at the photos. Yep, she's beautiful all right. Nick – who is also days away from freedom – can't wait to meet Ashley and live happily ever after.

But Nick's plans go to hell. There's a riot in the dining room. The prisoners go crazy. And Nick gets knifed in the melee. (Have you ever been knifed in the melee? It's a sensitive spot.) Which leaves Rudy facing Ashley on that day of freedom. She's never set eyes on Nick before.

"Don't do it, Rudy," our hero says to himself.

At this point, in the interests of preserving the movie's convoluted secrets, I must refer all calls to your imagination. Let's just say this: Ashley also draws Rudy into more trouble than he bargained for. The trouble involves a heist at an Indian reservation casino, which also involves some tough, shady characters (including a slumming Gary Sinise and Clarence Williams III) who look as though they were the second choices for the heavies in "Pulp Fiction."

Screenwriter Ehren Kruger, who also wrote the initially interesting but ultimately hackneyed "Arlington Road," seems to have a talent for writing scripts that sound like other, better movies. "Reindeer Games" is his latest case in point.

Does Rudy love Ashley? Does Ashley love Rudy? If "Reindeer Games" succeeds at all, it's because of Affleck's disarming likability and Theron's slinky presence. But I'm really stretching for compliments. "Reindeer Games" is basically a test of your ability to accept a slushpile of implausible twisteroos and Tarantino-style conceits, including a predictable bloodbath featuring a gang of – how to put this? – Reservoir Santas. Somebody please hail me a sleigh.

REINDEER GAMES (R, 104 minutes) – Contains violence, sex, nudity and Tarantino debris.