House of Games

A very clever film about con artists. Directly and partially written by David Mamet (The Untouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross) it stars his wife, Lindsay Crouse, as a psychiatrist who comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led my a smooth-talking grifter (Joe Mantegna) into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men. Once you understand the mentality and motivations of the people involved it’s quite easy to predict how it will all turn out. Nonetheless its fun watching it all unfold. It one of the relatively few movies shot in Seattle and the rainy city streets provide an apt setting.