OVP: The Player (1992)

Film: The Player (1992)
Stars: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Lyle Lovett, Vincent D'Onofrio (and more cameos than you can count)
Director: Robert Altman
Oscar History: 3 nominations (Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Robert Altman's movies rarely are what they seem.  Better than anyone else, he manages to find things for every actor, big and small, to do in his films and regularly uses his platform as a great auteur to shape a more meaningful conversation out of his film.  In the early 1990's, Altman enjoyed a major career renaissance that resulted in back-to-back Best Director nominations at the Oscars.  This was the first of those two.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film from the very beginning is vintage Altman.  The movie starts with a terrific extended shot, one not unlike Touch of Evil's classic opening (which, as will become the film's raison d'etre, is referenced during the opening moments).  We are introduced to a host of different pitch meetings and studio executives all hearing potential scripts and movie ideas.  At the center of this is a man named Griffin Mill (Robbins).  Mill is a jaded man, one who has clearly worked his way to the top but can't quite figure out why yet, and has been taken over by the business end of Hollywood.  Mill is getting death threats in the form of vintage Hollywood postcards, however, from a writer who pitched him a script that he never called back about and has clearly forgotten.

The film follows Griffin as he finds a writer he suspects of being the culprit named David Kahane (D'Onofrio) and tries to woo him into stopping the postcards and that he'll give him a shot at a career (Griffin cannot go to the police for fear of it hurting his career, which is in a precarious position due to another man gunning to take him on at the studio).  Kahane rejects the idea and says instead he's going to go out to ruin Griffin's career, so in a fit of rage, Griffin drowns Kahane in a shallow pool of water in an alley.

The film's darkly comic tone doesn't let up here, though, as Griffin soon finds himself in love with Kahane's girlfriend June (Scacchi), and is being tracked by both a detective (Goldberg) and a mysterious man (Lovett).  The movie continues on a rapid pace, with the postcard-writer not letting up (and beginning to blackmail Griffin about the murder) and Griffin's career slowly going on the skids just as he dangerously falls for June.

In the end, though, because this is Altman and not some hackneyed script (like the ones being portrayed in the film), we get a better ending than Griffin confessing and getting caught.  In the end, thanks to a botched eyewitness, Griffin not only gets away with murder, he becomes the head of the studio and marries his victim's girlfriend.  The final scene of the movie is Griffin on the phone with the man who has been writing the postcards (who is never identified throughout the entire movie), cutting a deal for the plot of what has just happened, and then titling the film The Player.  It's wickedly tongue-in-cheek, and tres smart, and works well within the sharply-structured film.

The movie occasionally runs a tad long, but it's never without a plethora of ideas.  The way that everyone in Hollywood acts seems roughly how we as lay people assume they do.  A recurring theme through the movie is an idealistic young writer and a desperate-for-a-hit schmoozer trying to sell Griffin on a heart-wrenching tale about a young woman unjustly sentenced to death.  The writer wants no stars, wants an unhappy ending, and especially doesn't want Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis to star in the film.  In a great show of Altman's stature amongst actors, not only does the film (which we see a scene of during a screening) end up hackneyed and with a happy ending, Altman got the real life Roberts and Willis to star in the scene.

The movie, in fact, gets its best message from the galaxy of big-name actors who show up in the film.  The movie is packed to the brim with actors as diverse as Burt Reynolds, Cher, Andie MacDowell, and Joel Grey all showing up in random scenes playing themselves.  It's probably the neatest trick that Altman pulls in the movie-the way he makes these iconic, gargantuan stars seem so run-of-the-mill and constant.  You see pitch meetings where an actress like Julia Roberts is suggested for virtually every single young female role as a selling point (you could substitute a name like Jennifer Lawrence in today and see this film hasn't remotely aged).  You see how worshipful people are to these celebrities and how catered their egos are.  The stars all seem in on the joke, but it's a great portrayal of how reliant the business and the art side of filmmaking can be on each other, and in particular, how they have melded so strongly.

The film's three Oscar nominations all seem about right, particularly the editing, which takes a lot of great leaps (not just the spectacular opening shot but a number of other extended takes), and though it could have chopped a couple of middle scenes, is aces when it comes to splicing together actors in every scene.

Those are my thoughts on this well-done movie-what are yours?  Where does The Player rank in your personal Altman pantheon?  Did you have a favorite supporting role in the film?  And who was your fave cameo?  Share in the comments!