Review of The Player (1992) by Aren B — 10 Dec 2009
Satire of Hollywood always comes across as hypocritical when it comes in the form of a film. It can never match the blunt savagery of something like "The Day of the Locust," but "The Player" manages to turn the Hollywood aspect of the film against the audience itself, making the audience complicit with the bastardization of art that Hollywood often stands for and accepting of the destruction that Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) commits.
"The Player" serves as my introduction to Robert Altman -- something that I'm ashamed to admit -- and it's an intriguing start, showing the power of an ensemble cast and complex filmmaking that is seemingly simple.
Tim Robbins is excellent in the lead and the opening tracking shot is brilliant. Watch "The Player" for it's enjoyable, sardonic skewering of the Hollywood studio system, but accept the fact that by the end of it, even though you're laughing at the movie, the movie's really laughing at you.
This review of The Player (1992) was written by Aren B on 10 Dec 2009.
The Player has generally received very positive reviews.
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