State and Main

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State and Main

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State and Main

Rebecca Pidgeon, Clark Gregg, Julia Stiles, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin

Pity the poor film director (William H. Macy). He's arrived with cast and crew in the perfectly Rockwellian town of Waterford, Vermont, only to discover that the local mill--a crucial location for his...( read more  read more... ) movie, since it's titled "The Old Mill"--burned down in 1960. The idealistic screenwriter (Philip Seymour Hoffman) would rather pursue a pure-hearted local (Rebecca Pidgeon) than do a last-minute rewrite; the town's aspiring politico (Clark Gregg) wants to milk the production for every dime it's worth; the oft-exposed bimbo starlet (Sarah Jessica Parker) is now balking at her contractual nude scene; and a local teenager (Julia Stiles) is only too willing to exploit the indiscretions of the film's skirt-chasing star (Alec Baldwin). And of course, the power-wielding producer (David Paymer) is panicking about everything.

Welcome to David Mamet's State and Main, the acclaimed writer-director's funniest and most accessible film to date, propelled by the rocket fuel of Mamet's show-biz experience and driven by an ensemble cast that simply couldn't be better. Naturally, the writer's dilemma is the meatiest one--will he be noble or sell out?--and Mamet arrives at a solution that's as hilarious as it is morally justified. Along the way, the rigors of filmmaking are explored with farcical abandon, such as how to provide a high-tech product placement... in a 19th-century story. Mamet's razor-sharp dialogue is gourmet popcorn here--each kernel yields a tasty surprise--and the whole scenario (intentionally modeled in the style of Preston Sturges) plays out with the breezy assurance of vintage screwball comedy. It's pure gold from start to finish, and even the closing credits offer another reason to laugh. --Jeff Shannon

Id: 10898467

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State and Main Recent Reviews
  • DerekA101
    July 28, 2008
    DerekA101
    This is a complete waste of time. A lame movie chalk full of many great actors. Did all these guys owe the director a favor??? I'm really not fond of movies about making a movie, especially when they're supposed to be "comedy" but with a some what serious tone. It was extreme...( read more)ly tedious.

    I just didn't get it... avoid this crap fest!!
  • DrZeek
    September 13, 2007
    DrZeek
    Walt Price: How are we coming with the dead horse scene?
    Marty Rossen: You can't actually kill the horse.
    Walt Price: Aw, fuck me!

    Writer/Director David Mamet uses his style of dialog in a new fashion, comedy. This is a very funny movie with a great ensemble cast.

    The movie re...( read more)volves around a movie crew who was recently kicked out of a small town during production for some sketchy circumstances, and have now just arrived in a small Vermont town, where they will now upset their ways.

    Amidst the movie crew there is Philip Seymour Hoffman as the writer, William H Macy and David Paymer as director and producer, and Alec Baldwin and Sarah Jessica Parker as actors.

    Among them, Hoffman is great as a writer unfamiliar with the ways of Hollywood. At one point he is forced to simply create a new title and settings for the film, because the movie which is called "The Old Mill," cannot film at the old mill, because it burned down.

    Meanwhile, Macy and Paymer have to struggle with more funding through product placement involving somehow having "bazoomer.com" mentioned in an 18th century period film.

    Town Man: What happened to his finger?
    Ann Black: It was burned, then it was really hurt.

    What makes everything work so well is the Mamet style dialog, which I enjoy. Even though it is still laden with profanity, the movie glides along so smoothly with the little talking rhythms between the actors.

    It is a very funny movie, with quirky characters, and fun stuff involving Hollywood vs. Small town society.

    Ann Black: And here's some hydrogen peroxide.
    Joseph Turner White: I don't drink.
    Ann Black: It's for your finger.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    September 9, 2007
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    David Mamet's most funny, and light-hearted work.
  • danperry17
    June 10, 2007
    danperry17
    No one saw this movie. What a shame.
  • nuheart
    December 26, 2006
    nuheart
    I could rate this higher if Mamet had stayed with his original ending, rather than going for the standard "Mamet-bait-and-switch" trick.
  • doctordoom
    January 4, 2010
    doctordoom
    This is a quirky but fun movie. Basically about a film crew trying to make a movie in a small town in Vermont. They of course have problems with locations, the actors and the local towns people. This movie has a great cast with William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Julia Stiles, Philip ...( read more)Seymour Hoffman, Sara Jessica Parker and so forth. The movie has many funny moments. And all the actors give solid performances. The story is worth a watch just for the cast brought together for this. Worth a watch.
  • mcintyre157
    December 24, 2009
    mcintyre157
    Ever been "on location?"...if you haven't, see this first...Alec Baldwin, you animal!
  • EbertsLittleApprentice
    December 23, 2009
    EbertsLittleApprentice
    It was alright, but it was eriously in need of some fine tuning.
  • magnolia12883
    December 18, 2009
    magnolia12883
    David Mamet's sharp Hollywood satire is a sly, acidically-witted and often hilarious poke in the eyes to the egos, personal lives and would-be wit of the people who make movies. "The Old Mill" has come to the small, idyllic hamlet of Waterford, Vermont ("Where is it? That's where...( read more) it is!," says the director to an underling over the phone). The director is an amoral jackass named Walt Price (William H. Macy), a would-be streetwise Hollywood hack who has been hired to direct a screenplay by playwright Joseph Turner White (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Flanked by vicious producer Marty Rossen (David Paymer), Walt must deal with the newfound religion of his buxom young starlet Claire Wellesley (Sarah Jessica Parker), and the obsession and ego of major movie star Bob Barrenger (Alec Baldwin), who "likes 14-year-old girls" ("Let's get him half a 28-year-old girl," commands Walt, half-in-jest), all the while trying to ingratiate himself and his crew to the town mayor and his wife (Charles Durning and Patti LuPone). This could've been the tale of how a Hollywood film crew comes in and starts dictating terms, but instead becomes the story of how the good people of the town come to affect and be affected by the crew - especially the star-struck young daughter (Julia Stiles) of the local diner proprieter (Ricky Jay), who is always reminding people of what it would be like to live under Communism. Then there's the writer, who is soon struck by a sharp-witted, word-gifted young book store manager (Rebecca Pidgeon, a.k.a. Mrs. Mamet) who, when they meet, is already engaged to a pompous, self-serving would-be politician (Clark Gregg). How these elements collide in detail I will leave for you to discover. Writer-director David Mamet ("Glengarry Glen Ross") is a talented playwright-turned-filmmaker who has been making relatively small-budget noir-ish thrillers ("House of Games," "The Spanish Prisoner," "Homicide"), morality plays ("Oleanna" and "The Winslow Boy") and (on occasion) outright comedies ("Things Change" and now this) for about twenty years. If this film, like the screenplay he co-wrote for Barry Levinson's political satire "Wag the Dog" (1997), is a bit self-satisfied after a while, it's also razor-sharp and very very funny, and to give away the jokes would be a crime, if not a sin. The humor is knowing and smart, mixing clever dialogue with cutting one-liners (from Walt's typical fallback position "I'll give him an Associate Producer credit" to his motto "It's not a lie. It's a gift for fiction"). The A-list cast is all top-notch and right in their wheelhouse - Macy as the phony Holllywood director who spews false sensitivity when it suits him, Paymer as his almost evil benefactor, Baldwin and Parker as the self-absorbed and destructive stars, and at its center, Hoffman and Pidgeon as the only truly good people in a sea of corruption and immorality. How these two smart, funny people find each other and make it through is the small but effective heart of this movie, rendering Mamet's script as more than one colossal, devilish in-joke ("Did you see the grosses for 'Gandhi 2'?). Okay, so skewering Hollywood isn't exactly anything new - it's been done in ways both light (Christopher Guest's "The Big Picture") and pitch-black (Robert Altman's "The Player") and sometimes the results are a bit mixed, but coming from Mamet's pen (as his "Wag the Dog" did to a slightly lesser degree), it all feels fresher and from a slightly new angle. The results are a comedic gem, memorable and hugely rewarding. One of the year's best films!
  • LaurenceJMoquinJr
    August 4, 2009
    LaurenceJMoquinJr
    Someone as clever and groundbreaking as David Mamet certainly knows the horrors of making a commercial Hollywood film- the problem is that most of us know all about that thanks to the countless other movies on the subject. Still, Mamet's infamously original dialogue and a terrifi...( read more)c cast (especially Alec Baldwin as the drunken, pampered star) make this rise above the overly familiar territory.
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