Finishing the Game

2007 American film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Finishing the Game is a 2007 mockumentary film directed by Justin Lin focusing on Bruce Lee's final movie Game of Death (1972), which was unfinished at the time of his death.^[3]^[4] Shot in 18 days,^[5] Finishing the Game comically satirizes the 1972 production^{[citation needed]}^[6]^[7]^[8]—which used body doubles and clips from other Lee movies^[3]—and addresses racial stereotypes in the Asian community.^[9]

Directed byJustin Lin

Written by

Josh Diamond
Justin Lin

Produced by

Julie Asato
Salvador Gatdula
Justin Lin

Starring

Quick facts Directed by, Written by ...

Finishing the Game
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Justin Lin
Written by	Josh Diamond Justin Lin
Produced by	Julie Asato Salvador Gatdula Justin Lin
Starring	McCaleb Burnett Monique Gabriela Curnen Roger Fan Sung Kang Mousa Kraish Meredith Scott Lynn Dustin Nguyen
Cinematography	Tom Clancey
Edited by	Greg Louie
Music by	Brian Tyler
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release dates	January 21, 2007 (2007-01-21) (Sundance)^[1] October 5, 2007 (2007-10-05) (Limited)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$53,219^[2]

Its world premiere took place at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it was an Official Selection.^[10] It was also selected as the opening night film at the 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.^[11]

Plot

Cast

McCaleb Burnett as Tarrick Tyler
Monique Gabriela Curnen as Saraghina Rivas
Roger Fan as Breeze Loo
Sung Kang as Colgate "Cole" Kim
Mousa Kraish as Raja
Meredith Scott Lynn as Eloise
Dustin Nguyen as Troy Poon
James Franco as Dean Silo
MC Hammer as Roy Thunder
Ron Jeremy as Peter Dowd
Brian Tee as Mac Chang
Leonardo Nam as Eli
George Takei as Man in Black
SuChin Pak as Connie Popavich-Mosimoto
Bella Thorne as Sue
Sam Bottoms as Martey Kurtainbaum
Jake Sandvig as Ronney Kurtainbaum
Michael Shamus Wiles as Officer Williams
Nathan Jung as Bob
Wilmer Calderon as Cesar (deleted scenes only)
Cassidy Freeman as Shirley
Joseph McQueen as Leroy/Earl
David Collard as Victor
Jim Parrack as Jerry

Reception

Finishing the Game received mostly negative reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 34% based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's consensus reads, "Though Justin Lin's premise is precocious enough, the sight gags and comic timing are tired in this mockumentary about Asian typecasting in the 1970s."^[12] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[13]

References

[1]
"Finishing the Game". February 7, 2007. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
[2]
"Finishing the Game". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
[3]
Ito, Robert (August 5, 2006). "50 Guys, All Trying to Look Like Bruce Lee". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
[4]
Lee died having shot only 40 minutes of the fight scenes, and so the film was completed to include just 12 minutes of Lee's fighting, using Bruce Lee body doubles, and "clips snatched from previous films, even clips from Lee’s own Hong Kong funeral." Robert Ito of The New York Times describes the finished product, "which includes about 12 minutes of Lee’s original fight scenes" as "grotesque." See Ito, "50 Guys...", op. cit.
[5]
Ningen. "Finishing the Game (2007) Review". City on Fire. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
[6]
Lowe, Justin (February 5, 2007). "Finishing the Game". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
[7]
Justin Lowe, The Hollywood Reporter: "Lin and co-writer Josh Diamond re-envision this misguided moviemaking process in ‘Finishing the Game,’ using a fictional documentary about the casting of ‘Game of Death’ to send-up the many pitfalls of studio filmmaking and the foibles of the various professionals involved. At the same time, they good-naturedly confront issues of racism and the stereotyping of Asian-American actors to question whether the bad old days are really so far in the past." Lowe, "Finishing the Game", op. cit.
[8]
Okada, Jun (2015). Making Asian American Film and Video: History, Institutions, Movements. Rutgers University Press. pp. 124–130. ISBN 978-0813565026. 126. "The two operative functions of fake documentary—satire and parody—at once address the unique concerns of the history of Asian American independent film and video. The fact that Finishing the Game and American Zombie parody both the documentary form, ubiquitous in the genre, and ethnic identity—one of the genre's central concerns—shows the fake documentary to be ideal in its ability to comment on both the world (satire) and texts (parody). The fake documentary, as per [Alexandra] Juhasz's definition, engages both parody and satire—it's about form as well as about the 'world.' Since Asian American film and video has been known as a serious genre concerned with the moral and social order, Finishing the Game satirizes this seriousness and sense of superiority with the treatment of the relatively trivial world of narcissistic Hollywood wannabes."
[9]
Wiegand, David (October 18, 2007). "Finishing the Game". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 25, 2025.
[10]
"2007 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS IN THE PREMIERES, SPECTRUM, NEW FRONTIER, PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT AND FROM THE SUNDANCE COLLECTION SECTIONS" (PDF). Retrieved May 2, 2018.^{[permanent dead link]}
[11]
Goto, Taro & SFIAAFF Staff (February 24, 2007). "Finishing the Game [25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), March 15-25 2007—Films & Events, Screening, Thu 3/15]". AsianAmericanFilmFestival.org. Archived from the original on February 24, 2007. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
[12]
"Finishing the Game". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
[13]
"Finishing the Game: The Search for a New Bruce Lee". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2018.