Review of The Player (1992) by Daniel K — 25 Nov 2015

4: No one makes pictures quite like Altman. I'm glad we have so many, but I certainly wish he was still making them. The fact that this rates at 4 stars, yet isn't even close to being my favorite Altman picture tells you everything you need to know.

3 Women, M*A*S*H*, Short Cuts, Gosford Park, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Nashville, The Long Goodbye, and Tanner '88 all my make the 4 star cut. I enjoyed this more the second time around, which is a fairly normal occurrence when it comes to Altman, at least in my experience.

There are few pictures about the picture business that are more compelling. The opening scene is fantastic and the only reason it works is that Altman doesn't take himself too seriously. It brought to mind a final exam in one of my Columbia film courses.

Before the exam started the professor was setting up the projector and had the sound running without the picture. The five seconds or so of relatively unmemorable dialogue they played was enough for me to determine the film in question was "Touch of Evil".

This opening is not quite that good, but it's pretty close. Never has the camera seemed to float like this. It must have been fun to see it in action. The characteristic filming through windows, or some other sort of barrier, is heavily utilized throughout, but never more so than in this opening sequence.

It has to be on anyone's short list of long single-shot scenes. The incredible number of stars on display here is astounding. I doubt there's another director that's worked in the past several decades that could put together a list of cameos like this.

At times, it gives the film a documentary-like atmosphere that certainly serves to heighten the realism of an obviously very dramaticized picture. One gets the sense this is really what Hollywood is like, even if one knows it's not quite right.

This Hollywood has a timeless quality that seems to reach back across the decades, yet it also has a terribly contemporary quality. The not-so-subtle messages hidden within the many classic movie posters decorating the studio offices are great as well.