hannahbrewer Robert Altman was a master filmmaker. Not everyone's cup of tea but if you like him I think you will enjoy The Player- a satirical take on the film industry. Starring Tim Robbins and a host of cameos (An Altman trait) the Player follows a studio executive's fight for survival after he accidently kills a screenwriter. Featuring some amazing sequences including an astonishing opening scene long take this film is one of the finest examples of Altman's wit and craftsmanship. The film wasn't a huge success upon release, but it is considered a great film now. I suggest you give this film a chance because this is auteur theory in tinsel town at its finest.

classicsoncall Well if this isn't a film for movie buffs, then I don't know what is. Oh, and it's a brilliant story too! I started a list of my own of all the cameo spots and stopped at about twenty or so because they just kept on coming. Seeing Steve Allen at the Mellen (Sydney Pollack) party made me do a double take because I didn't know when this film was made and I knew Allen passed on a long time ago. The story has a couple of twists that are ingenious and tend to have the viewer keep one's guard up. Like the character of David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio), who's made to seem so obvious that he's the spurned writer who's sending Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) the death threat postcards, that you immediately brush him off as the guy Mill has to watch out for. Then there's Lyle Lovett, slinking around in the shadows following Griffin looking like he's about to waste him, and it turns out he's a detective. Very cleverly done, as were all the hints dropped about how this movie might end with the viewing of 'Habeus Corpus'. This is definitely a movie to watch more than once as I thought I had picked up on most of the guest shots, but the credits at the end of the picture revealed a whole bunch more that I never caught the first time around. And if that weren't enough, there's a great piece of trivia the film offers with that murder scene where Tim Robbins' character kills Kahane by ramming his head into the pavement and drowning him in standing water. In the 2003 movie "Mystic River", Sean Penn's character drowns his long time friend believing he killed his daughter. The friend's name was Dave Boyle, played by Tim Robbins!

Mr-Fusion A major name director does Hollywood satire. That right there is enough to sell a movie. And when "The Player" is actually about the business, it's a blast. The studio power structure, the entitled executives, the animosity toward writers . . . it's a culture deserving of a good jab in the rib cage. And Altman shoves pretty much every recognizable face into this thing; it's absurd ow many people show up here.But it's also self-indulgent, and when we're not making fun of the industry or stargazing, the murder mystery really jams on the brakes. This is a deeply cynical movie, so the outcome's not surprising. And Robbins' dance with the law just starts to drag after a while. Whoopi Goldberg actually stole the second half for me; her appearance gave it a much-needed charge.This is entirely worth it for its technical merits (I just know that that opening tracking shot is used in film schools) and it's well acted and directed. But it lost me when the main character became the sole focus.6/10

MartinHafer I am surprised that the IMDb trivia section is so short for this film. After all, it's jammed full of references to earlier films and is full of actor cameos. Because of this, it's clearly a film that bears re- watching in order to catch the many small details many would often miss. Also, because this film is ultra-famous, already has many reviews and is beloved by many, I'll keep my review relatively short. Suffice to say that it's a film lovers and insiders dream movie.The film begins with an insanely difficult scene that sets the stage for the film. It's all in one long take where the camera moves all over a wide area on a film studio lot. But instead of being intimate, it feels almost like the viewer is hiding and peering at the many different things occurring simultaneously. This is brilliant, as the film does have a real voyeuristic quality...with many shots that are not traditionally framed but are as if you are watching in the near distance. What follows is a very dark anti-fairy tale set in modern Hollywood. Instead of the usual story of a person working hard and doing good and ultimately being rewarded, this is pretty much the opposite. With a total jerk-face (Tim Robbins) screwing people over and even killing someone...and the consequences of this. It's obviously meant as an attack on many Hollywood types--the users, the superficial and the vaguely talented. Overall, a superb film that works very well due to wonderful direction and a black hole-dark script filled with cynicism.