The Player

If someone is to make film about Hollywood, it helps to be an insider that knows what he is talking about, yet, at the same time, it is also important to approach the subject from the critical distance of an outsider. Robert Altman fulfilled both criteria as a critics darling and icon of 1970s New Hollywood who in 1980s saw his quirky dramas and comedies becoming too “artsy” for general public and, even more importantly, increasingly profit-oriented studio executives. After spending almost a decade in wilderness, forced to make obscure low budget independent productions, Altman triumphantly returned to Hollywood major leagues in 1992 with his satirical dark comedy The Player.

The film is based on the novel by Michael Tolkin, who also wrote the script. The main character, played by Tim Robbins, is Griffin Mill, one of top executives in major Hollywood studios. His job is to decide which of tens of thousands of script pitches each year would end among twelve green lit production each year. This brings a lot of wealth, power and perks bring him great wealth and perks, like relationship with studios story editor Bonnie Sherow (played by Cynthia Stevenson), but it also makes many enemies. Mill has recently became worried that newly hired executive Larry Levy (played by Peter Gallagher) will take his place. But even more worrisome is campaign of death threats by a mysterious person Mill thinks is a screenwriter whose pitch he rejected. Mill tries to discover who that writer might be and tracks down is a man named David Kahane (played by Vincent D’Onofrio). Attempt to patch things up goes terribly wrong and ends in physical altercation during which Mill kills the man. Mill is suddenly forced to cover his tracks in order to avoid prison, while at the same he has to deal with the bad script that might help him get rid of an office rival. He also begins dating June Gudmundsdottir (played by Greta Scacchi), girlfriend of a man he killed.

Some critics used to complain about Altman’s films not having strong and coherent plots. This is definitely not the case with The Player, because Tolkin’s script features genuine and very interesting murder mystery. Yet, Altman also uses this conventional narrative structure to make brutally satirical observations on Hollywood, in many ways inspired by his own bitter experience. American film industry, as depicted in The Player, is deeply amoral institution, filled with corporate backstabbing, abuse, greed, decadence and incompetence. The most damning is the way Altman reveals actual business of major film studios and principles they apply to their product, always taking commercial considerations over artistic standards. The Player actually tells those principles – like the way films are supposed to contain romance, action, nudity, sex and, most importanly, happy endings - verbatim by characters in the film and they are, in a brilliant ironic twist, applied to the film itself creating a strong “meta” impression, which includes an excellent, even more ironic “meta” ending. Altman also allows couple of interesting “meta” moments, like with the long opening tracking shots that introduces the characters and during which they discuss different films, including those with long tracking shots.

Like with all Altman films, The Player features huge, diverse and really impressive cast. Tim Robbins is wonderful in the role of Griffin Mill, using a lot of talent to bring charm to the character the audience would root against in any other film. Mill backstabs his colleagues, treats people under him like dirt, cheats his girlfriend and, ultimately, kills a man, but because of the magic of Altman’s film making and Robbins’ great performance, the viewers are drawn into the film’s ironic mindset and actually want the main character to escape his predicament. Greta Scacchi is very good in the role of his new girlfriend, just like deliberately unglamorous Cynthia Stevenson is good in the role of old girlfriend. Vincent D’Onofrio, Scacchi’s romantic partner at the time, is also effective in small but effective role of a screenwriter who speaks for most of his frustrated and humiliated colleagues in Hollywood. On the other hand, some casting choices aren’t that effective and provide a little bit too much humour, like Whoopi Goldberg as police detective investigating murder and Lyle Lovett who is too weird and clownish in the role of mysterious stalker.

Those minor misfires are, however, compensated with the clever use of contemporary Hollywood stars that appear in cameos and provide important link between the fiction and reality in The Player. Altman and Tolkin also pay homage to Hollywood glorious legacy with plenty of references that would thrill hard core cinephiles. Those include film posters, minor details and mentions of Hollywood and some non-Hollywood classics. But even the audience that doesn’t care that much about cinema history would probably enjoy The Player as incredibly entertaining and probably one of the best films Hollywood made about itself.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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