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The Player (1992)

Directed by:
Robert Altman

COUNTRY
USA

Genre
Black comedy/Satire

NORWEGIAN TITLE
The Player

RUNNING TIME
124 minutes

Produced by:
David Brown
Michael Tolkin
Nick Wechsler

Written by (based on his own novel):
Michael Tolkin


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Griffin Mill Tim Robbins ½
June Gudmundsdottir Greta Scacchi ½
Walter Stuckel Fred Ward
Detective Susan Avery Whoopi Goldberg ½
Larry Levy Peter Gallagher ½
Joel Levison Brion James

Bonnie Sherow

Cynthia Stevenson
David Kahane Vincent D'Onofrio
Andy Sivella Dean Stockwell ½
Tom Oakley Richard E. Grant
Dick Mellom Sydney Pollack -
Detective Paul DeLongpre Lyle Lovett -
Celia Dina Merrill -
Whitney Gersh Gina Gershon -
Steve Reeves Jeremy Piven -

 

Review

The mystery which makes up the frame story never quite feels as important to director Robert Altman as his mocking of Hollywood in this satire starring Tim Robbins and featuring cameos from just about everybody in the American movie business. Robbins plays a cold-hearted Hollywood studio executive whose job is to refuse writers and scripts, so when he starts receiving threatening letters, the potential suspects and reasons are many. The film is clever in a smug but unflashy way; everything fits so neatly together and is told with such aloofness that you most certainly will never feel anything. But for anyone with a deep interest for or a foot inside the business, The Player has enough subtle self-referencing to solicit at least a few chuckles, albeit probably not many outright laughs.

Copyright © 31.12.2022 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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