Finishing the Game

{{more citations needed|date=March 2017}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox film

| image = FinishingtheGameposter.jpg

| name = Finishing the Game

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Justin Lin

| writer = {{Plainlist|

• Josh Diamond
• Justin Lin

}}

| producer = {{Plainlist|

• Julie Asato
• Salvador Gatdula
• Justin Lin

}}

| starring = {{Plainlist|

• McCaleb Burnett
• Monique Gabriela Curnen
• Roger Fan
• Sung Kang
• Mousa Kraish
• Meredith Scott Lynn
• Dustin Nguyen

}}

| cinematography = Tom Clancey

| released = {{Film date|2007|01|21|Sundance|ref1={{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2007/film/markets-festivals/finishing-the-game-1200510562/|title=Finishing the Game|date=7 February 2007|access-date=1 July 2020}}|2007|10|05|Limited}}

| music = Brian Tyler

| runtime = 88 minutes

| editing = Greg Louie

| distributor = IFC Films

| country = United States

| language = English

| gross = $53,219{{cite Box Office Mojo |id= 2622719489 |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2622719489/weekend/|title=Finishing the Game |access-date=December 8, 2021}}{{cbignore}}

}}

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.{{cite journal | author = Ito, Robert | date = August 5, 2006 | title = 50 Guys, All Trying to Look Like Bruce Lee | journal = The New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/movies/05bruce.html | access-date = March 2, 2017 | archive-date = November 15, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211115200725/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/05/movies/05bruce.html | url-status = live }}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. Shot in 18 days,{{cite web |last=Ningen |title=Finishing the Game (2007) Review |url=https://cityonfire.com/finishing-the-game-2007/ |access-date=21 March 2022 |website=City on Fire }} Finishing the Game comically satirizes the 1972 production{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}{{cite journal | author = Lowe, Justin | date = February 5, 2007 | title = Finishing the Game | journal = The Hollywood Reporter | url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/finishing-game-158062/ | access-date = April 25, 2025 | url-status = live }}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.{{Cite book |last=Okada |first=Jun |title=Making Asian American Film and Video: History, Institutions, Movements |year=2015 |isbn=978-0813565026 |page=124-130|publisher=Rutgers University Press }} 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."—which used body doubles and clips from other Lee movies—and addresses racial stereotypes in the Asian community.{{cite journal | author = Wiegand, David | date = October 18, 2007 | title = Finishing the Game | journal = The San Francisco Chronicle | url = https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Film-Clips-Also-opening-today-2534265.php#flick3 | access-date = April 25, 2025 | url-status = live }}

Its world premiere took place at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it was an Official Selection.{{cite web| url=http://sundance.org/pdf/press-releasesF07_SFF_PROGRAMANNOUNCEMENT120106.pdf| title=2007 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS IN THE PREMIERES, SPECTRUM, NEW FRONTIER,PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT AND FROM THE SUNDANCE COLLECTION SECTIONS| access-date=May 2, 2018}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} It was also selected as the opening night film at the 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.{{cite web | author=Goto, Taro & SFIAAFF Staff | date=24 February 2007| title = Finishing the Game [25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), March 15-25 2007—Films & Events, Screening, Thu 3/15] | work = AsianAmericanFilmFestival.org | url = http://www.asianamericanfilmfestival.org/2007/films-events/film-detail/?i=42 | url-status = dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224152121/http://www.asianamericanfilmfestival.org/2007/films-events/film-detail/?i=42 | archive-date = February 24, 2007 | access-date=2 March 2017}}

File:Sundance Film Festival 2007 - Finishing the Game cast (392388891).jpg.]]