Line #52 Film/HouseOfGames


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/houseofgames_9186.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Of course you gave me your trust. That's what I do for a living!"''
4	-->-- '''Mike'''
5
6	''House of Games'' is Creator/DavidMamet's 1987 directorial debut. He also wrote the screenplay, based on a story he wrote with Jonathan Katz. The film's cast includes David Mamet's then-wife Creator/LindsayCrouse and Creator/JoeMantegna. Many actors who would become Mamet's ProductionPosse have roles in the film.
7
8	A famous psychologist, Margaret Ford (Crouse), meets a gambler and ConMan, Mike (Mantegna), who introduces her to his dark and seductive underworld of deception. What at first starts as an intellectual curiosity and then a thrill, soon goes over her head.
9
10	No relation to the similarly-named quiz show ''Series/RichardOsmansHouseOfGames''.
11	----
12	!!This film provides examples of:
13
14	* AbandonedWarehouse: The restricted area of the airport is completely unmanned. Even the gun shots wouldn't attract anybody's attention.
15	* AbusiveParents: Margaret has a patient whose father repeatedly called her a whore during her childhood.
16	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Margaret becomes attracted to Mike because of this, and he recruits her into his gang as a result.
17	* TheBadGuyWins: Subverted. [[spoiler:After Margaret kills Mike at the climax]], she herself is shown to have been corrupted into unrepentant petty thievery.
18	* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: The con works out because Margaret is doing exactly what she is supposed to do, up until the very end]].
19	* BlackAndGrayMorality: All characters are flawed, some more than others.
20	* BloodFromTheMouth: The dying cop has this in a remorse {{flashback}} of Margaret's.
21	* BulletHolesAndRevelations: Invoked. [[spoiler:Margaret tries to get around the armed cop when suddenly the gun goes off. After a moment of stillness, the cop [[FakingTheDead sinks to the ground]]]].
22	* CaperCrew: Mike, Joey, George, [[spoiler:Billy, the departing hotel guest, the "undercover cop"... nearly everyone Margaret sees in the movie is part of the crew against her]].
23	* ChekhovsGun: The pocket knife, which Margaret steals from the hotel room, creates some repercussions later in the story.
24	* CityNoir: All night-time scenes involving the House of Games and Charlie's Tavern show features of this.
25	* TheCon: The film features a psychiatrist getting involved in a world of con men who sometimes perform cons that include many participants. [[spoiler:''Everything'' that happens in the film was a long con aimed at Margaret.]]
26	* ConMan: Mike, his friends, and eventually Margaret. [[spoiler:Or so she thinks.]]
27	* CoolCar: The bright red convertible Margaret steals to help herself, Mike, and Joey escape from the hotel. [[spoiler:When she later sees it being driven by Billy, it leads her to unravel the bigger con.]]
28	* CorruptTheCutie: Mike tries to do this to Margaret. [[spoiler: He succeeds posthumously, as revealed when she steals a gold lighter and smiles, completely hooked to a life of crime.]]
29	* DefiantToTheEnd: Mike acts like this at gun point, almost to the extent of being a DeathSeeker.
30	* DefrostingIceQueen: Margaret goes from an aloof professional to a thrill-seeking [[spoiler:thief and murderer]] over the course of the film.
31	* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:Taking a life for the loss of $80,000 seems a bit harsh.]]
32	* DoYouWantToCopulate: Mike's straight-forward question: "Do you wanna make love with me?"
33	* DidTheyOrDidntThey: The sex scene at the hotel is skipped over.
34	* DownerEnding: Margaret gets revenge on Mike for the scam, but she herself has become a villain, as the last scene suggests.
35	* DramaticGunCock: Margaret cocks the gun on Mike when he tries to leave during the final confrontation.
36	* EmergingFromTheShadows: Mike enters the story this way.
37	* TheEndingChangesEverything: Margaret has an AndYouWereThere moment on her second visit to Charlie's Tavern.
38	* ExactEavesdropping: When Margaret goes to Charlie's Tavern for the second time, [[spoiler:she overhears every detail about the con that Mike's gang pulled on her]].
39	* FreudianSlip: Margaret does this twice when talking to her mentor, Dr. Littauer. First comes when they meet for lunch:
40	-->'''Margaret ''': I think the only pressures in my life--\
41	'''Dr. Littauer''': The only what?\
42	'''Margaret''': Pleasures. I said "pleasures".
43	** The second time comes after a session with the prisoner that doesn't go well; Margaret says, "My father called her a whore".
44	* GrayRainOfDepression: There's a heavy rain when Margaret returns to Charlie's Tavern after losing [[spoiler:$80,000 from being conned by Mike]].
45	* HesDeadJim: Invoked. Mike checks the cop's pulse for five seconds to come up with this diagnose.
46	* IllegalGamblingDen: The back room of the House of Games, where Mike and the others play high-stakes poker.
47	* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Several members of Mike's gang impersonate police officers and undercover detectives at various points of their con.
48	* InformedAttractiveness: Invoked by Mike to charm Margaret: "You're a lovely woman."
49	* IWasNeverHere: Margaret makes this clear to Mike, [[spoiler:before she kills him.]]
50	* KansasCityShuffle: [[spoiler:The first con Mike plays on her, which she is supposed to deduce, to get her drawn into the rest of the con]].
51	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Margaret gets away with her murder. Also, the other members of Mike's gang never face any repercussions for cheating her out of $80,000.]]
52	* MaidAndMaiden: Margaret's only friend is Dr. Littauer, an older colleague at the hospital where they work.
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54	* MisplacedNamesPoster: [[http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1901633024/tt0093223 The movie poster]] has the names of the two leads swapped around.
55	* MostWritersAreWriters: The heroine is a well-known psychiatrist with a best selling book.
56	* ObsessiveCompulsiveBarkeeping: The barkeeper at Charlie's Tavern is polishing glasses when Margaret enters.
57	* PlotSensitiveLatch: Invoked. When Mike reaches for the suitcase, it "accidentally" opens to reveal $80,000 in cash.
58	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mike is DefiantToTheEnd and delivers a final hate speech to Margaret.
59	-->'''Mike:''' Hey, ''fuck'' you! This is what you always wanted, you crooked ''bitch''! You ''thief''! You always need to get caught, cuz you ''know'' you're bad. I never hurt anybody. I never shot anybody. You sought this out. This is what you always wanted. I knew it the ''first'' time you came in. You're ''worthless'', you know it? You're a ''whore''! You came back like a ''dog'' to its own ''vomit''! You sick ''bitch''! I'm not gonna ''give'' you ''shit''!
60	** Could also have been an attempt to BreakThemByTalking.
61	* ShoutOut: The hotel room that Mike takes Margaret to is room #1138, which is a reference to Creator/GeorgeLucas's ''Film/THX1138''.
62	* TheShrink: Margaret is a caring psychologist. And then along came Billy Hahn...
63	* SmokingIsCool: Most characters smoke in a rather neo-noir way.
64	* SocialEngineering: Mike uses this to manipulate his victims into doing what he wants, such as pretending to be a down-on-his-luck veteran to get another vet to sympathize and give him some money.
65	* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Margaret tries to pull a con on Mike [[spoiler:after she discovers his gang conned her out of $80,000]].
66	* TheTell: A running theme in the movie.
67	** Invoked when Mike recruits Margaret to watch for a tell in his poker game opponent.
68	** Mike demonstrates the working of a tell to Margaret in a "hidden penny" game. Margaret's tell is her nose pointing into the direction of the hand holding the token.
69	** Mike uses another tell to sense what finger Margaret thinks of, though the audience is not told how.
70	* ThrillSeeker: Margaret turns into one of these over the course of the movie, as she gets addicted to Mike's world of hustle and con games.
71	* TrappedByGamblingDebts: Invoked when Billy tells Margaret that he owes $25,000 in gambling debts. This prompts her to visit the House of Games and meet Mike.
72	* WouldHitAGirl: Joey slaps Margaret in the face when she refuses to steal the car at the hotel.

Context Film / HouseOfGames