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David Mamet's `State and Main' is what `Our Town' might have been had it been conceived by a clear-eyed, modern day cynic. In this tale, a Hollywood film crew invades the idyllic hamlet of Waterford, Vermont, determined to capture on celluloid the simple bucolic virtues of a bygone era. The only problem is that those involved with the making of this film-within-a-film lack the requisite innocence themselves to do justice to the theme they purport to be exploring. They are all typical products of the crass Hollywood culture – boorish, self-obsessed and thoroughly amoral. All except the writer of the piece that is, Joseph Turner White (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the one character who is not only in touch with his cravings for a return to innocence, but who passes the moral test laid out for him along those lines at the end.

`State and Main' is a clever film, a cute film, a likable film – it just isn't a very FUNNY film. The Mamet specialty – flat, monotone, emotionless line readings – becomes grating and irritating after awhile. Both the small town rubes and the big city elitists come across as little more than tired stereotypes who really don't have anything particularly funny to say. As a result, most of the attempts at humor simply fall flat. We've seen these characters and situations countless times before – the temperamental star making exorbitant financial demands, the lecherous leading man endangering the production with his reckless sexual dalliances, the harried producers and directors fighting a constant transcontinental phone battle with demanding studio heads `back on the coast.' And it just isn't all that interesting. Part of the problem, I think, is that Mamet never really exploits or explores the setting he's chosen. Most of the townsfolk emerge as minor, background characters at best, with the possible exception of Rebecca Pidgeon as Annie, Joe's eventual love interest. Pidgeon, who looks uncannily like Marlo Thomas in her `That Girl' days, seems sweet as all get out, but the atonal delivery of most of her lines hampers the interest we might otherwise find in her character. Actually, none of these characters are very interesting – or very funny. In fact, most of them seem rather pathetic when you get right down to it, and Mamet fails to provide the satirical wit and bite that would mitigate some of their unpleasantness. He doesn't generate the kind of out-and-out, hearty laughter that Christopher Guest derived from his examinations of rural America in movies like `Waiting For Guffman' and `Best of Show.' Mamet's take is, in many ways, so cynical that he seems to have forgotten to engender the kind of affection for his people that helps keep condescension at bay. Or, perhaps, it is really so much simpler than that – maybe he merely neglected to write any truly funny material this time around.

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.

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.

The filmmakers who invade Vermont are patronizing, condescending and pig-headed...to the locals and to each other. Writer-director David Mamet gets in some good acerbic digs at show business and isn't afraid to make anyone and everyone look the fool. After all, it's only "just a movie" to us--to them, it's brain surgery at a cost. The cast seems to be having a great time, Alec Baldwin in particular. Philip Seymour Hoffman has never been so benign--and thats a good thing (what a nice change to see him relaxed, romantic and clean-cut). The picture isn't a barn-burner, it never crackles or builds comedic momentum like, say, "Tootsie", but it's a flip, funny, unfettered throwaway. **1/2 from ****