State and Main

In the pantheon of David Mamet's films, I'd say State and Main ranks somewhere in the middle, but it's a good middle. The rhythm and pace is more like a sitcom than a feature film, sharply edited and light on its feet and with a sort of whitebread jazz motif loitering in the background, but the cast is certainly above average, and Mamet's screenplay is very charming punctuated with some funny sub-plots and a few very good (maybe even great) one-liners.

The story concerns a film production crew, running out of money, who blows into the quaint provincial town of Waterford, Vermont on a location shoot after getting run out of New Hampshire (for reasons that are very hush-hush). The wellspring of much of the humor is in the byplay between the corruptness of the film people and the "purity" of the locals, who turn out to be as rotten as some of the Hollywood crowd. There are also some hilarious insides on the world of show-biz and film-making (i.e. the associate producer's credit, the product placement for a dot.com in a movie set in the 1800's, the cinematographer who can't get the shot he wants, Sarah Jessica Parker's character who finds religion and won't show her breasts in the film - unless the producers pay her an additional 800 grand).

Mamet is not quite in the Woody Allen class of gagwriting, but he proves to be assured and witty without being too self-consciously clever (as he is in "Heist"). Some favorite lines: "I remember my lines. I just don't remember which order they come in."; "You don't like children, do you?" "Never saw the point of 'em."; and, of course "Whatever happened to 1975?"

William H. Macy gives a good funny performance as the wheeler-dealer director (as good as his work in "Fargo" or "The Cooler"), and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rebecca Pidgeon are wonderful as the would-be lovers. This is a not great, but a good middlebrow satire of different worlds, very pleasant and expertly written, though just not savage enough to be brutally memorable. 3 *** out of 4

If you know Mamet's film history, you'll realize often, he writes about lowlifes and depressing (though good) subject matter such as the Untouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross and The Winslow Boy. But now, Mamet turns to light comedy and succeeds, even if as times it's a little too light.

The film is mainly supported (besides a clever script) by it's cast including William H. Macy delivering some good laughs as a director who comes off like he did in Fargo, only more like you would see a director. Phillip Seymour Hoffman makes good as a writer, Alec Baldwin brings some sly humor as a big movie star who can't get away from 14 year old girls (though Julia Stiles doesn't look 14), Sarah Jessica Parker is actually sexy here, and David Paymer is stunningly funny as a go for broke producer. At points, one could compare this movie to the brilliant Bowfinger from last year and they might be right, but Mamet also adds in stuff about small towns as well. Enjoyable to say the least. B+

William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, David Paymer, Charles Durning, Julia Stiles, and Rebecca Pidgeon star in "State and Main," a 2000 film written and directed b David Mamet.

Macy is the director, Walt Price, of a film shooting on location. For reasons not disclosed, they've been run out of one small town and now are in another one in Vermont. With him are his writer, Joseph Turner White,(Hoffman), heretofore a playwright, his stars (Baldwin & Parker), and various other assistants, cameramen, etc.

The name of the film is "The Old Mill" and the exciting thing about this town is that it actually has one. Well, it had one - they find out it burned down. This is actually the least of their problems. The female star refuses to bare her breasts, though someone comments that most of America can draw them from memory; then she holds them up for $800,000. The male lead likes underage girls and gets in a car accident with one in the car. Unfortunately, the writer is a witness, and due to the influence of a townswoman, Ann, he has fallen for (Pidgeon) he wants to maintain his integrity.

The Mayor (Durning) is willing to turn over the whole town to them seemingly for free until someone finds out it would cost $6 million to build a set of the town, so all the playing up to the Mayor seems to be for nothing. And an attorney, ex-fiancé of Ann's, is ready to extract revenge on the company by legal means.

Meanwhile, the wife of someone on the crew is having a baby, White can't type because he caught his finger in a fish hook, and the Price keeps asking for the scene where the horse dies. When White says, "You know you can't kill a horse," the director's angry answer is "f--- me." I'm sure some of this is very true to life, especially the director being hounded from all sides constantly and having to put out a million fires. Also the cover-up of the accident I'm sure has happened. The movie captures the awe that townspeople have when Hollywood types come in to make a film, as well as the self-indulgence of the actors.

Most of the time, the film was pretty funny. It's not Mamet's best by any means. It's a light story with some very good performances, particularly by Macy, who plays a determined director who pretends to be nice to perfection, and Hoffman, who walks around in a dream world on his first film. Baldwin nonchalantly gives us the narcissistic essence of his character, and Parker is a riot acting as if she's being asked to commit murder instead of something she's done a million times.

The end shouldn't come as any surprise. I would say this is atypical Mamet that, had it not been for the stars, could have been a TV movie.

A Hollywood cast and crew cynically invade a small New England town and leave some changes behind. A well done smooth flowing film which satirizes the impressionable citizens and will give most viewers some laughs about how easily some people can be impressed by the Hollywood experience. Very good performances all around led by William Macy and a noteworthy verbal tour de force by David Paymer.

Well worth watching.

***-Three Stars

(This review refers to the DVD version of the film...)

I enjoyed this film immensely. I like Mamet's work: I've seen "House of Games" many times, and have seen "The Spanish Prisoner" twice. I like the multilayered, complex, odd, and offbeat nature of these stories. "State and Main" is similar, only different.

The whole concept of the movie seems kind of like, well, like taking a picture of yourself in a mirror, where you are taking a picture of yourself taking a picture of yourself. Only doing it without the slightest hesitation or twinge of self-consciousness. The actors in this film pull it off admirably, with an occasional ever-so-subtle twinkle in their eye to make it a truly fun movie.

This film is only the third film I've seen on DVD (the first two were "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (2001), and "Beat the Devil" (1954)). I am still amazed at the beautiful picture quality that DVD's are able to deliver. I just purchased a new DVD player, however, screen-wise, I don't have anything more than a very nice 13 year-old 26" Mitsubishi television... I'm not even using component video hookups. The picture quality is reminiscent of a box of glowing precious gems. I can't wait until I someday get an enhanced widescreen (plasma or LCD) television set. I predict that when that happens, you'll never pry me out of my recliner chair in front of the TV.

I also like the Special Features that you typically get with DVD's nowadays. With "State and Main", there is a lengthy commentary track where several of the actors make interesting running commentary about the film, while pertinent segments of the film itself are replayed in the background. Long, but worth watching.

Going by the generally good reviews of this film, plus my aforementioned admiration of Mamet's work, I took a chance and decided to buy this DVD instead of renting it. And I'm glad I did. It's a film very worthy of any serious movie collector's collection. I can imagine myself watching this occasionally, when I'm in a thoughtful and somewhat playful mood.