How do you get from Meryl Streep to Ice Cube, and what’s the fastest way to do it? My favourite way is to play The Movie Game, my generation’s update on Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (because really, who cares about Kevin Bacon anymore besides Kyra Sedgwick and Bernie Madoff?) ie so and so was in this film with what’s his name who was in this with that guy etc.

As so-called Indie Films multiply and reproduce like rabbits and a new star is christened every minute, the Movie Game has become a fun way to keep up and figure out how surprisingly connected Ellen Page and Lindsay Lohan are.

Of course, if you want to cheat, there’s always the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) but it’s far more interesting, and more fun, to dig through the recesses of your own mind and see who and what you can remember (extra points if you can remember when). Once you start you’ll be amazed at how much you know about who was in what with whom. Don’t forget about bit parts and cameos. Then the trick becomes who can do it the fastest. Sure, I could get from Vin Diesel to Judi Dench in 40 steps, but what about 25? What about 10?

The secret is, of course, ensemble casts. Without films like Boogie Nights, Ocean’s 11-13 and Crash, The Movie Game would up and die with Jerry Maguire. Note that Don Cheadle played in all of the aforementioned Ensemble Casts, he is without a doubt, one of the heroes of the game and should be given an MVP award for seamlessly linking Tony Danza (Crash) and Andy Garcia (Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13) something once thought to be impossible.

Once you’ve mastered the basics of The Movie Game, and have brushed up on movies enough to make quick links between two unlikely actors or movies, competition can begin. Feel free to challenge your friend to name an actor besides Guy Pearce in Memento. If he can’t remember that Carrie-Anne Moss played the female lead then of course he must take a drink, if he can, then you drink.

So that’s the game, and it’s getting easier every day as Hollywood (and the ever expanding Indiewood) churn out more and more films with ensemble casts and strange star combinations, like Jessica Simpson and Burt Reynolds (The Dukes of Hazard). Though, on reflection, maybe that’s not so totally out there.

And by the way:
Meryl Streep was in A Prairie Home Companion with John C. Reily who was in Boogie Nights with Mark Wahlberg who was in Three Kings with Ice Cube

Ellen Page was in Smart People with Dennis Quaid who was in The Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan

Judi Dench was in Notes on a Scandal with Cate Blanchet who was in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt who was in Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie who was in The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon who was in Good Will Hunting with Ben Affleck who was in Boiler Room with Vin Diesel

Scary, isn’t it?