| Release:12/22/00-(R)-(1:42)-[EL DORADO PICTURES/FINE LINE]-ALEC BALDWIN, CHARLES DURNING, CLARK GREGG, PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, PATTI LUPONE, WILLIAM H. MACY, SARAH JESSICA PARKER, DAVID PAYMER, REBECCA PIDGEON, JULIA STILES : This is one hilarious film. The star is the entire ensemble and the quick and witty material. What we have here is a farce that could be played out on a stage. It moves with grace and ease and is delivered with the force and pace of a film made in the golden age of the business. The tale is simple, big town Hollywood filmmakers invading a small time, simple-minded atmosphere. The battle is on, the problems are many, and the answers can always be bought. "The Old Mill" is a film that was being done in neighboring New Hampshire, but unfortunately that wasn't working and another location had to be found right away. Enter Waterford, Vermont, a sleepy little village where the townsfolk haven't changed much in many years. The problems begin, however, when it is discovered that the old mill, a selling point to the location, is no longer there, it burned down in 1960, the victim of a teenage arsonist on a rampage. This, however, is but one problem that is amongst many in the normal day of a film production. David Mamet's wonderful satire of the film industry gives pause to the inside jokes and the outside references that the world of film viewers would understand as well. The incredible cast each lives up to the part given to them with a sense of tongue-in-cheek and a realism to the references they are making throughout the troubled shoot. Problems include tempramental stars Claire (Parker) who, after signing her contract will not bare her breasts; Bob Berringer (Baldwin) who has a penchant for underaged girls; Carla (Stiles), the underaged girl; a confused writer (Hoffman) and his burgeoning relationship with a local (Pidgeon);the harried producer (Macy)and egocentric moneyman (Paymer); and the small town mayor and his wife (Durning and Lupone). The plot lines and twists lob back and forth better than a Wimbledon Tennis Final and the audience is kept hopping as one fire is put out as another begins flaming. Mamet's rare style is tamed here from the normal barrage of four-letter words he is associated with. The subject matter is not one that is void of that sort of language, but Mamet's script went in a different direction entirely. This is solid filmmaking and the sort that can be viewed several times in order to catch the quick lines, glances, and behind the main scene nuances that make "State and Main" one of the better films of 2000. (A)
|
