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Parents' Guide to

The Coldest Game

By Renee Longstreet, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Mindless spy thriller has drinking, language, violence.

Movie NR 2020 102 minutes
The Coldest Game Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

  • The Coldest Game Movie: The Match
  • The Coldest Game Movie: Mansky with Agents White and Stone
  • The Coldest Game Movie: Under Suspicion
  • The Coldest Game Movie: Celebrating
  • The Coldest Game Movie: Mansky & His Handlers

Community Reviews

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age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

Mrsjwvsr
Mrsjwvsr Adult
July 3, 2021
age 15+

Anti-American Tripe

Weak storyline. The main character drinks, and drinks, and drinks, and can't function without drinking. The "f" bomb is there about 4 times, mostly in subtitles. The Soviets are shown to think Americans are immoral due to slavery, women being in the home, and blacks not drinking from the water fountain while Soviets are actually for freedom. The plot jumps around. The acting is mediocre at best. There are a few extremely gruesome scenes, like when a lady's neck is cracked and she's later seen crammed in a closet with other dead bodies all contorted. There are disconnected references to the Cuba missile crisis. Dumb. At least there's no sex.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In THE COLDEST GAME America is on the brink of nuclear war as Russian ships are on their way to Cuba, only 90 miles from the United States. The unidentified cargo is suspected to be offensive weaponry, a part of the Russian-Cuban effort to equip the island with ballistic missiles that have the capacity to reach the U.S. By chance, a highly-anticipated international chess match is to be held in Warsaw just as the Russian ships move toward their destination. In the scheduled match between the reigning Russian champion and a lauded U.S. master, the American has died suddenly. Rules allow a replacement. Josh Mansky (Bill Pullman), a formerly renowned chess master and university professor, but now a degenerate drunk and gambler, is approached by U.S. Intelligence officers. They implore him to substitute for his dead colleague. Barely able to stand on his feet, filthy, and often unintelligible, Mansky is recruited. What the hapless man doesn't know is that there's more than chess required of his services. Stealthy chases and narrow escapes will follow; bodies will fall; and in a blink of the eye (or a "King's Gambit"), Josh Mansky may become an unsung hero of the day.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

This ludicrous thriller with abysmal performances, an incoherent script, and routine plot twists that never surprise is sloppy, unconvincing, and thoroughly amateurish. There's no chance that the actual chess scenes will be boring or repetitive; there are no chess scenes. A few quick moves, a tap of the clock, and it's over. Instead, viewers get to see scene after scene of staggeringly drunken men misbehaving and mustache-twirling cartoon villains giving orders to lackeys. Intercut with those sequences, the filmmakers have used newsreel footage (some real, some not) to remind of the thin plot's high stakes. The Coldest Game has nothing to recommend for any age group.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the portrayal of alcoholism in The Coldest Game. Do you think the lead character's drunkenness is exaggerated to facilitate the plot? Did the alcohol dependency ever become laughable or unbelievable? What, if any, were the consequences for Mansky's behavior?

  • "An innocent caught up in circumstances beyond his/her control" is a famous theme in the movie-thriller genre. How is The Coldest Game an example? Why do you think the genre is so appealing? Can you think of some film classics that used this plot? (Hint: Alfred Hitchcock was a master of movies like one.)

  • Use this film as a springboard for learning. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the U.S. and Soviet Union ever came to nuclear war during the decades-long Cold War. Find out more about what really happened and how a catastrophic war was avoided.

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