DVD Reviews

The Player - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Sep 21, 2010, 23:30 GMT

“Movies. Now more than ever!” That’s the motto of the movie studio where fast-tracking exec Griffin Bell (Tim Robbins) works. But rumor has it a power play could push Bell out. And a rejected writer who’s sending anonymous death threats could push him under. Robert Altman directs this acclaimed and satiric love/hate valentine to Hollywood, and from the bravura opening tracking shot to the spot-the-star cameos (60+!) to the inside skinny ...more

The Player is a mystery shrouded in Hollywood from one of the mostly highly praised directors.  Not that Robert Altman didn’t have much love for the system that Hollywood runs on since the film has some biting satire on the lunacy present in that same system. 

Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) has a cushy job as a producer and is on a higher rung in the Hollywood system.  He hears numerous pitches a year but only a few lucky projects actually get made.  A film can live or die on Mill’s word.  However, if you’re at such lofty heights you’re always aware of the fall from them.

That comes when an upstart named Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher) is on the rise and may actually take Mill’s job.  If that wasn’t enough, Mill starts getting threatening postcards from a screenwriter whose pitch he rejected, but he doesn’t know which screenwriter it is.  With the paranoia of the loss of his job threatening, he digs through his records and guesses that the phantom is David Kahane (Vincent D’Onofrio).

He tracks Kahane down and offers him a job, hoping that will cease the threats.  The new fast friends go to a bar for some celebratory drinks, tongues are loosened, Kahane rejects Mill’s offer, but denies sending the postcards.  Griffin leaves the bar but Kahane follows him to taunt him over the rumors of Larry Levy replacing him.  A fight ensues and Griffin kills Kahane, but makes it look like Kahane was the unlucky victim of a mugger.

The next day, Griffin gets another postcard confirming that Kahane wasn’t the one sending them.  Griffin attends Kahane’s funeral and starts to get close to June (Greta Scacchi), Kahane’s girlfriend.  Soon detectives (Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett) are questioning Griffin over Kahane’s death as he was the last one to see him, his stalker starts upping the ante, and Levy appears to be ever encroaching on his job. 

One of the funniest and most talked about scenes in the Player is when Buck Henry pitches The Graduate 2 to Griffin Mill.  It plays on several layers in the willingness and consideration of bad ideas as long as there’s money to be made. 

Altman was joking, but the irony is that nowadays studios may actually consider making such a film.  I’m always reminded of the funny, now all too frighteningly real, pitch as a new remake of a film from the 1980s is announced. 

I wonder what it might be like if the powers that be would spend that money on a new, original film idea than wasting it on remakes of 80s television shows.  The mind boggles.  Robert Altman was always much of a rebel and left the Hollywood studio system in the 70s.  He would be make independent films from his self-imposed exile to keep him on the radar screens. 

The Player marked his comeback film in 1992 back into that same system.  He seemed to call every Hollywood pal he knew to show up for the films numerous cameos, including the likes of Cher, James Coburn, Burt Reynolds, Peter Falk, Jack Lemmon, and the list goes on (over 60).  It’s a fun film to play spot the star, some of them just happened to be in filming locations by chance and ended up in the film. 

The film starts with a 7 minute 47 second tracking shot reminiscent of Orson Welles’, another rebel forced outside the Hollywood system, Touch of Evil.   Not only is the film a biting look at the behind the scenes of tinseltown, but it also has an involving mystery, and a humorous ironic ending.  Certainly, it showed that Altman still had the touch and Hollywood welcomed him back with open arms. 

The Player is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.85:1).  Special features include a commentary from Altman and screenwriter Michael Tolkien, the 17 minute “One on One with Robert Altman, 14 minutes of deleted scenes, and the 2 minute theatrical trailer.

All in standard definition and from the DVD special edition.  Sadly, nothing new.  It might’ve been nice to have a tribute to the late director.  The film looks like it could use some remastering (it still looks better than the DVD), but I do recall it having a hazy look.   

The Player is a must have for fans of Altman or Hollywood devotees.  It comes off as a modern film noir with a fun twist.  Be on the lookout for the numerous cameos as part of the fun. 

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