Review by frereloupe9

Now this is a sweet interesting film, and hey, a film in a film is never dull, take me words lad, take Gods and monsters(1998) for example,anyway, if you know Mamet, then you know that his stuff was never below average, and yes i mean the stuff that he directed and the stuff that he wrote..unless he only act as an uncredited writer (which he sometimes does on bigger scale films). And before some people start to whine "ohhh not His wife Rebecca Pidgeon againnnnnhhh" , personally i do not find anything wrong with it, i mean what is wrong with the mutual respect between husband and wife both breed together as artists? (~_^ )..Pidgeon isn't a lousy actress, well Pidgeon always play..Pidgeon. just as MIchael Caine plays Caine and Hopkins play Hopkins..to top of it all he is the director here and he can cast anyone he damn wants. So this sweet little tale begins with Film Director Walt Price scouting a new location for his movie "The Old Mill" , being forced out of the last town for some reason that i couldn't remember. goverment stuff clashing with artistic ideals probably. Anyway they arrived at some ole' Vermont town, ensured that this is the right spot to continue the production, they began to make a move and from here on , we are offered with the tale of crews that choose to shoot first and ask question later, againts the raggity towns people whos more than ready to "welcome" the shooting, alas each with different reasons. What advances this film from the rest of the float-muck that came out at 2000 was probably theobvious ability of Mamet to corporate with his casts and thus produced the best ensemble performance since Magnolia (1999) or so i think. Even if you're a pop corn junkie who have less understanding about complications of making a movie, this wouldnt thump your cerebrums, hell , my 14 yr old Sister laugh at the usual "Mamet- dialogue -oriented" Jokes and she got Clueless (1995) as one of her favourite movie. Unfortunately, this film was never a box office, and naturally this reflects the majority of cine-audiences taste who still limits to liking style over substance, while style in this film got "MAMET" written over it, substance is second to none, kinetic it isn't yet if you like the out of towner kinda comedy minus the cliches' then this is your bag of surprises. Alec Baldwin is the kind of actor that do well providing the script fits his true nature, and in this case he did a good job as Bob Berenger, the pederastic movie star, Sarah Jessica Parker being the Julia Robert-esque actress who wouldnt bare her boobs on screen for religious reason, however an extra $800k would change her mind. Man, i would like to comment on every acting prowess thats so painfully effective here, i mean come on, Phillip Seymour Hoffman he never sucks (yep i use the plain word"never sucks"/"unsucks") here he plays the shy scriptwriter whose self dillema empowered his true kind nature, missus Mamet plays the usual idealistic free spirited -yet-cool-l-o-v-e interest, nothing new, she looks lovely as always, Julia Stiles was given little to do, thats a shame ,as the matter of fact the only flaw in State and Main is probably that theres so much great actors appearing here alas underused, and they ain't even a cameo role , take Ricky Jay , Stiles or that Guv'nor who played the other Lebowski in The big Lebowski(1998), cant recall his name, just as i cant recall most of other character actors names. I conclude my praise for the acting with the performance of character actor David Paymer as the roughnecked take-no-bullsh*t Producer, stealing every scene he is in, with his razor mouther utterings, he got the best lines in this flick, all in all this almost preceeds the Movie producer role of Dustin Hoffman as Stanley Motts in Wag the Dog (1997) i said almost! Ok so this is it ladies and germs, a film that is so tongue sweet, you'll require no snacks while watching it. enjoy this one and follow it straight away with Heist (2001) another quality Mamet sleeper that its shine has unshamingly stolen by other Similar film that came out at that year too, directed by the Jolly who fills the voice for Miss piggy. 4 outta 5 stars. +4 for the most entertaining ensembled performance in recent years and a simple from the outside yet complex in the inside plot. -1 for whatever,but mostly for abandoning some of the great actors talent because ...theres just not enough time.