Neither of those transgressions matter, however. Reindeer Games, directed by John Frankenheimer, is a good enough action-thriller with something about it just not quite right.

Frankenheimer takes an elegant approach to this movie, much like he did with his last film, the critically well-received Ronin. Whereas most of the genre's directors pound you with nearly nonstop noise and violence, Frankenheimer is a model of patience. He will forsake the 90-to-nothing pace of action pictures for a long, drawn-out sequence -- in slow-motion, if he has to. And the scores of his films are subdued and quiet compared to the rat-tat-tat of the others. In this approach, Frankenheimer gives the filmgoer the utmost credit by letting him take in the movie's events for what they are worth instead of falsely working him up through loud music and constant explosions.

Ben Affleck stars as Rudy, a car thief who's just completed a two-year stint in jail. During his incarceration, Rudy has gotten to know Ashley (Charlize Theron) through the pictures and letters she's sent Rudy's cellmate, Nick (James Frain). Both Rudy and Nick are scheduled to be released on the same day just before the Christmas holidays, but only Rudy makes it out alive, and because Ashley doesn't know what Nick looks like, it is far too easy for Rudy to become Nick for what he reasons will be an easy post-penal encounter.

The set-up backfires on Rudy when Ashley's brutal big-rig-driving brother Gabriel (Gary Sinese), aka Monster, arrives on the scene to pick Rudy-as-Nick's brain for advice on a Christmas Eve casino heist. Initially, Rudy tries to convince Gabriel he's not Nick, until he realizes that if he's Rudy, he's going to end up with a slug in his head. So he wings it the best he can -- all the while going between warmth and disgust for Ashley -- and ends up in a Santa suit to help on the casino job.

Reindeer Games makes much of the human capacity for duplicity. A character may merely misrepresent or pump himself up to something more than he actually is or, more frequently in this film, he will outright lie about his actually identity. It's actors playing people who are acting, which leads (perhaps ironically) to what makes this film not exactly click: one of the actors.

Theron uses her abundant sex appeal for her role and throws in a touch of vulnerability. She is not the one. As for his part, Sinese goes all the way sinister. However, he bulked up for the film, and his head seems like a tiny pea on his new physique, even with the Jesus-style hair he sports for balance. But that is only a small distraction. It's Affleck who is all wrong for the movie. He has the looks for a leading man, yet he doesn't show the depth. Though Rudy is a habitual car thief, rather than giving the part a streak of criminality, Affleck plays it more as a wise-guy schmuck whose biggest crime might be giving someone an atomic wedgie. An array of facial expressions -- happy, sad, scared, smug (this one with a well-timed eyebrow raise) -- is about the best he can offer.