THE PLAYER
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A new film about how back-stabbing and unforgiving Hollywood is, from the director of BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, QUINTET, and POPEYE. There are some nice self-referential touches but over all the film is just a little too much into muck-raking. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4).
Hollywood's worst-kept secret is that there is a lot wrong with the film industry. It seems that everybody who has ever had everything to do with film-making cannot wait to tell anyone who will listen how everybody else in Hollywood--especially a close friend or co-worker--is a back- stabber. The key quote from last year's documentary NAKED HOLLYWOOD was that Hollywood is a town in which people wish you well only if you are dying. People just love to write about Hollywood Babylon. I suspect that the Hollywood restaurants have to close at noon for lack of business considering how many people "can never do lunch in this town again." And nobody loves stories of how bad things are in Hollywood as much as people actually in the industry. They hear the stories, they tell the stories, they build the stories into tall tales and folklore. I seriously doubt that there is much wrong with the film industry that is not wrong with the auto industry, or the chemical industry, or the clothing industry. It is just that of these industries only the film industry's primary business is telling stories. Hollywood has always turned out a lot of bad films and a few very good films. It certainly appears that there are fewer good films coming out than there are were at one time. But how many theatrical films these days are as bad as a "Blondie" or "Mexican Spitfire" film? For that matter, how many pre-1950s films have the impact of THE KILLING FIELDS? I guess that is why I have never had a strong interest in Hollywood's dirty linen. And even in the days I think Hollywood was its greatest, it was making films about how far Hollywood had deteriorated. SUNSET BOULEVARD was a pretty good dirty linen film. THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, ALL ABOUT EVE, HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, THE BIG PICTURE, BARTON FINK, and THE PLAYER are all decent Hollywood dirty linen films. But THE PLAYER is what I should be writing about.
THE PLAYER is a deep-focus film. You are expected to keep an eye both on the foreground and the background. In the foreground we have a story of murder in the film industry; in the background we see Hollywood with all of its faults and blemishes. We hear writer Mitchell Tolkin's criticism of the film industry coming a bit at a time out of dozens of mouths. They describe a typical bad film. And sure enough the foreground story has everything the characters in the background complain about. The film moves in a tight circle describing all the faults of modern Hollywood films and then exemplifying them.
Tim Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a somewhat slimey film executive being eased out to make way for Larry Levy (played by Peter Gallagher), another slimey executive. This might be enough to put Griffin's nerves on edge, but Griffin is also getting sinister postcards with death threats because of the shabby way he has treated writers. It is when Griffin decides to try to play detective and find the angry writer that he really becomes embroiled.
THE PLAYER is not just about the film industry, it is about film itself. Wherever Griffin goes, he is surrounded by film posters and lobby cards that match his mood or the plot. There are references to the long tracking shots of TOUCH OF EVIL and ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS during a long tracking shot in THE PLAYER. And there are the now famous cameo appearances. VARIETY lists 65 famous people who play themselves in this film. Identifying people in the background becomes a major distraction.
Robert Altman has through most of his career been a maverick filmmaker, but I cannot help feeling that this film is a little ungracious albeit with good nature. Altman has done some good films and a few real stinkers. He certainly cannot blame the failure of QUINTET on the studio trying too hard to make it commercial. And even after having made losers, he seems always to find work. This alone shows that the film industry has not always been so unkind to him. And on top of that, THE PLAYER was made only a short time after a similar and in some ways better film, Christopher Guest's THE BIG PICTURE. That film is recommended for fans of THE PLAYER. I rate Altman's film just a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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