Rating: 
Summary: Boy, Can Mamet Write! If Only All Directors Could!
Review: In all too many films, I find myself let down because the writing is so bad. Some of the very worst are by directors who also want to be writers but who can't really write. When I find out who they are, I thereafter avoid their films. I never trouble myself with thoughts like these in seeing a David Mamet film though since he is first and foremost a writer. As usual, he brings his superb screenwriting skills to this vehicle, which he also directed, and turns it into pure gold. He places William H. Macy front and center as a film director who is trying to bring a film in on budget in New England although disaster looms on every front. I frankly never thought Macy could be a funny, ha-ha kind of actor but he is absolutely hilarious as this director with a bunker mentality. I also never thought Philip Seymour Hoffman could play a romantic lead but in this film he does so admirably with Mamet's wife, Rebecca Pidgeon. Hoffman is the writer on the film and Pidgeon becomes his muse and support system in one as she takes over his heart. Alec Baldwin plays himself as an obnoxious movie star and is also perfect doing so. He brings the chief conflict into the film, the prospect of the film's being shut down because of his penchant for bedding underage girls. Perhaps the most brilliant casting of all though is David Paymer, as producer Marty, who is perfect in every scene as the Machievellian man who will do anything to reach his end goal, bringing the film in. This film reminds me of Preston Sturges' "Travels of Sullivan," a masterpiece of screwball comedy. Mamet is not really known for comedy but rather for incisive drama. You'd never know that, however, from seeing this film. You'd think he'd been doing comedy all of his life. The only other comic film of his that I can recall is "Things Change," also a superb film. All of Mamet's work is a must-see for me and I am rarely disappointed with the results.
Rating: 
Summary: Cool Satire, Not Quite Perfect
Review: William H. Macy absolutely steals the show as the harried director of "The Old Mill", a movie within the movie that's behind schedule and out of money and got run out of its last location shoot for reasons never quite stated but easily deduced from dialogue clues. David Paymer is his near-equal as the film's producer, who can go from charming to threatening and back again in the flex of a facial muscle and the click of a cell-phone key. Philip Seymour Harris as the film's writer is goofy but strangely likeable, and has a nice counterpart in Rebecca Pidgeon as the town's bookstore owner and head of the local drama club. Alec Baldwin is, as usual, better than his material and seems to have found a new career as a character actor by sending up his former glamorous leading man persona, this time playing the film's star actor who has a thing for young (read: TOO YOUNG) girls. Sarah Jessica Parker does a decent as his leading lady, a bimbo hired for her body who thinks that "The Old Mill" will give her the chance to do more. The supporting cast is filled with charming performances, clever visuals fill the screen, and snappy dialogue keeps the pace moving reasonably well until about 30 minutes from the end. But even with the slip, the ending recovers nicely and you'll find yourself laughing out loud at the denouement, which caught me completely by surprise.
Rating:
Summary: Side-splittingly funny Hollywood satire
Review: A film crew goes to a small town in Vermont (they were previously in a small town in New Hampshire, but had to move due to the male star's penchant for underage girls) to film a movie called "The Old Mill". The problem is that the old mill burned down in 1960, part of a spate of "unexplained fires". And that's just one of the funny set pieces of David Mamet's latest movie.There is the overly tense, carbohydrate-hating director, played to perfection by William H. Macy. The male star, played with swagger by Alec Baldwin. The female star, who refuses to go topless (despite having committed to it in her contract) unless the production company pays her additional money, played by Sarah Jessica Parker. And the hapless writer, who now must find a substitute for the mill, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Unlike most Mamet-written or -directed films, this is a gentle comedy, without most of the raw language of his plays. But the dialogue is no less sharp and no less funny. There isn't a weak link in the cast, and the laughs keep coming as Bob (Baldwin) gets into trouble with yet another teenage girl (Julia Stiles, who makes it unclear whether she is the seducer or the seducee), Joseph (Hoffman) struggles to keep up with the demanded rewrites, and a town prosecutor vindictively (and then justifiably) goes after the film company for what is happening to the town. Filmed in a picturesque little hamlet, the complications of the plot seem all the funnier for occurring in this bucolic atmosphere. Very, very funny and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent actors and witty script...
Review: These days, when I see David Mamet's name associated with a film I know I am going to like it. I bought this DVD sight unseen and was pleased to discover that like his other films, THE WINSLOW BOY and THE SPANISH PRISONER, STATE AND MAIN is a fine work of dramatic art. Rebecca Pidgeon stars in all three of these Mamet films, and once again she has been perfectly cast as a clever, witty, emancipated and articulate young woman. In STATE AND MAIN she plays the local drama teacher who directs the community theater. When asked about children she says, "I never saw the point of them." Pidgeon is a perfect foil to the wonderful Philip Seymour Hoffman who has also acted in several other really good films including NEXT STOP WONDERLAND. I had not seen Mr. Hoffman play a "leading man" before and I think he did a very fine job. The cast is multitalented and with this much talent it's easy to make a turkey as "stars" twinkle and fall all over each other. However, Mr. Mamet apparently runs a tight ship. The actors interact perfectly. Their timing is terrific. Their lines are clever and succinct. They are mostly likeable although they all have character defects. All of us could probably say "this crew reminds me of the people at my work place." These are ordinary people with ordinary motives--except this is show business. The device of the play within the play is used, as well as other elements from the great playwright Shakespeare. Hoffman plays a playwright who has been asked to adopt his stage play "The Old Mill" into a screen play set in a town without an old mill. Thus, he must rewrite his script. One wonders how much of himself Mamet put into the characters played by Hoffman and Pidgeon. Although other characters' motives are made reasonably clear, this story is told from the perspective of the writer. This is a funny, wonderful and uplifting movie. Buy the DVD, you'll watch it more than once.
Rating: 
Summary: This film is a tragedy
Review: My girlfriend brought this DVD over the other night to show me. Now, she is normally a very sweet girl, but I have reason to believe now that she may be smoking something. This film is plagued by poor acting, bad direction, and third-rate script-editing. Lines are cliched and forced, and characters are stereotypically two-dimensional. I'm normally very good at the suspension-of-disbelief, but this is beyond my abilities. Even the NAMES are contrived. State And Main attempts to recreate some of the real-scenario feel of other films, and their influence can be felt. I am reminded of Magnolia, Wag the Dog, and others. The difference is, I actually enjoyed watching these, unlike State and Main. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Satire needs to be actually CLEVER in order to work
Review: David Mamet has been involved creatively in some exquisite films: Spanish Prisoner, House of Games, Homicide, Glengarry Glen Ross and -- while not really a film -- American Buffalo. He has also made one of the worst films of all times: Oleanna. What made Oleanna so terrible were hackneyed, forced, and obvious plot devices; the most obvious targets for derision hit in the most egregiously obvious ways; and inane dialogue. State and Main joins the inauspicious company, though it avoids being a complete object of ridicule because the dialogue is not inane. The dialogue and acting are consistently good throughout. What makes this film so risible is that everything that happens in it is either obvious or dumb -- often both. A key plot point involves the inadvertent erasing of a dinner date on a blackboard leading to much forced mayhem (Did Mamet learn this device in his high school creative writing class? Or did he just pick it up naturally watching "Three's Company"?). The story is resolved with -- literally, I am not making this up -- a "big bag of money". There is a visit by a prospective lover when not five minutes before -- again, I am not making this up -- an unwanted and uninvited seductress has shown up in the bedroom to make for the most awkward of situations (oh! you can hear the laughter already, it's so darn clever -- where could she be hiding her naked body? under the bed? in the bathroom? NO! Don't open the closet door!). The key dilemma for the film's key character - the writer, The Innocent - between "purity" and "success and temptation" is resolved by...wait for it...a choice that enables him to have BOTH. Yippee. I am so relieved. Thank God Mamet didn't opt for the easy way out. The Innocent gets to make the moral choice, but nonetheless gets all the money and the fame anyway. And the forced contrast between the fast-talking Hollywood types and the slow-talking innocent yokels of the small town ends up revealing absolutely nothing of substance. Satire is tough to pull off. If the target is too obvious and/or if your critique of the target is too obvious, well then, you don't have satire. You have nothing but a painful experience. You have nothing but random barroom conventional wisdom and insults -- politicians are all liars, sports celebrities are spoiled prima donnas, Hollywood actors are shallow, corporate executives are greedy. Well, yes. And then? It is a really disappointing film. We know Mamet is a gifted and intelligent writer, but nothing in this movie goes above what would come out of the head of your average-witted high school student.
Rating:
Summary: Sure fire cure for insomnia
Review: This is one of those movies that you hear good things about and then wonder what those people were smoking when they watched this movie. It was horrible. Well, horrible if you wanted to actually laugh. Some of the dialogue gave me chills of embarrassment for how bad it was. I found myself praying to like some part of it to justify the rental price. But, it was not to be. It's just one of those "smart" comedies that leaves out the funny parts.
Rating: 
Summary: Hollywood Filmmaking Up Close With Acerbic Twist
Review: The fictitious town of Waterford, Vermont is the backdrop for "State and Main," David Mamet's witty, acerbic look at Hollywood filmmaking. Or as one character puts it "showbiz hell." It's all here: contractually obligated starlets forced to pose nude because of script obligations; the obsessed screenwriter; the oversexed male lead with an eye for pretty tennaged girls; the frazzled director forced to suck up to everyone just to have the movie made; the starstuck locals angling for a 10-second cameo; and all those endless rewrites that pop up just minutes before the camera rolls. Thoughout the film, it's obvious Mamet knows the lingo, the genre, the attitude, the inside scoop. But unless the viewer is up on Hollywood (and I mean up), he or she may be lost. I, in turn, had a ball.
Rating:
Summary: Likeable movie
Review: I tend to watch movies for a story and take them at face value. If there is an obvious lesson, some laughs or tears, or if I learn something, those are plusses. I do not like to have to work too hard when viewing.....I want to relax. "State and Main" allowed me to relax while I watched it. There were no gimmicks, no tricks--just a humorous story, simply told. The casting was good and there was a wide variety of characters populating a somewhat typical New England town. There were no real caricatures, although many of the Hollywood people were as shallow and smug and conniving as I always imagined them to be, many with huge egos. The movie keeps the viewer on his/her tos with cleverly written dialogue and fast scene changes. All in all, an enjoyable film.
Rating:
Summary: really rad movie
Review: wow, this movie really rules. this movie is very intelligent and thought out, in the same vein as the cohen brothers. if you liked fargo, or oh brother, you will like this. very funy. awesome. cant say enough good stuff about it. probably my #2 favorite movie, and i just saw it yesterday. watch it and you too will fall in love with it
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