State and Main

The story line for STATE AND MAIN could've been ripped from today's headlines: Alec Baldwin plays a top movie actor who habitually seduces 14yr old girls as a "hobby", yet is protected by his studio and production assistants in hiding his crimes.... and it's all played as one great big joke. They all know what is going on and shake their heads about it, but nobody condemns or attempts to put a stop to Baldwin's character - in fact, they not only bribe public officials to keep their mouths shut, they even are willing to commit perjury in a courtroom to protect his -and their own- careers. Talk about art imitating life!! Baldwin was also an Executive Producer on this smarmy waste of footage. Other reviewers have called this 'Goodhearted, light fun', 'Slight, but colorful', and 'Funny, witty and rather sweet'!! Since when is statutory rape a subject of amusement? Apparently, some people just don't get that fact that lives are ruined over such attitudes and I'm NOT talking about the actors involved. And, every second of this film is an affront to anyone who has ever been sexually victimized. Oh, Baldwin really shines in his role -as do the entire ensemble cast- but considering his own past indiscretions, why is this a surprise? The only real surprise in this film is how blatantly normally-brilliant writer/director David Mamet is willing to shove such repulsive behavior down the throats of his audience while making a huge joke of the whole serious issue. Mamet should be ashamed of himself since he certainly knows better. Baldwin -and the rest of this otherwise talented cast- should be so lucky to have even that much personal morality.

The reviews of this film seem to be mixed and I am confused on how that can be? This is one of my favorite movies ever and may be the best (not slapstick, Chris Farley-esque comedy, but smart) comedy. You must pay attention to this movie to get the jokes, because most of them are running (as in recurring) jokes that pick up on items that may have been just mentioned once ("Go you Huskies!") and again and again and again and then are explained later as a tag-on in the dialogue. This basic comedy technique works on an early Mel Brooks type level and makes for a movie that should be watched many times in order to pick up everything, but is still (maybe even more) enjoyable after each viewing. The writing is unquestionably the best comedy screenplay since those early Brooks films. It's just funny, but you have to pay attention. If you aren't listening to every line of dialogue, you will miss jokes, it is that simple. Each line is crucial to the script either as a story/plot building device or as a joke building device or both. There is not one wasted word in the script. The cast is classic. Rebecca Pidgeon, Mamet's wife, plays the matter-of-fact-talking girl perfectly. She is the heart of the film and deserves praise for being able to perform that well. The other person that deserves high praise is William H. Macy. His performance is on par with his Fargo performance. He emits this sense of control as everything falls apart around him and delivers some excellent lines. Baldwin gives a better than average performance, as does Durning and Hoffman and the rest of the cast is quite good. The direction is great. The movie seems to last 15 minutes because it is that interesting and fast paced. The perceived fast pace is created by the actors saying their lines so quickly and crisply. This can only occur with a director that knows the script but since the script was written by the director, the point becomes moot. Everything else also flows so well and the credit for that has to be given to Mamet's directing and writing ability. I really like this film. I like the way "The Old Mill" mirrors the actions of the actual film and how deep the film goes. This is like one of those classic novels that can be dissected in every way for symbolism and thought, which is quite rare in today's cinema. The film may be too smart for it's own good and may have overshot the general movie audience, but makes for a gem of a movie to watch. Mamet pulls no punches making fun of Hollywood by comparing it to small town America or more importantly Hollywood "values" to small town American values. Watch this movie if you want to think and be entertained, and if that doesn't sound appealing, please go find another movie to watch.

This movie was bad. It was neither funny, witty, or sweet as the main page review suggests. I love David Mamet. He is without a doubt my favorite screenwriter working today. He is not however a good director. This movie is filmed like a stage play. People are walking on and off exactly like in a play. Film is a different medium and it should be exploited as such. That is only the half of it. David can't stop winking at you throughout this movie. All of the jokes are oh so clever and all of the characters are caricatures. You have to have a straight man for a silly character to work. If all of the characters are silly then it is simply not funny. David has stockpiled a bunch of Hollywood cliche's and unleashed them onto some small town cliche's and the results are disastrous. So much happens in the first ten minutes and none of it means anything. Your head is dizzy trying to follow all of these uninteresting characters. David's rythmic dialogue is being used for bad effect here. The plot is weak and boring as well. The performances are not very good, but how could they be in a film like this that lacks any kind of direction. This is a cross between a Frank Capra film and The Player (an unwise combination). It fails at all that it attempts.I think he should stick with Drama. He should also stop putting his wife Rebecca Pidgeon in the female lead. His next movie Heist promises to be much better than this except for the fact that once again she is in the film.

Rebecca Pidgeon (Mamet's wife) has never been so winsome, nor Philip Seymour Hoffman so innocent. It is light fare, but the dialogue, thanks to Mamet's talent, nonetheless has an edge and intelligence missing from most romantic comedies. The Hollywood crew, post-Entourage, seems almost dated, though David Paymer does a good job of seeming tough while remaining surprisingly vulnerable. Clark Gregg, on the town side, does an under-appreciated job of playing the jilted fiancé and future corrupt politician. Contrasting this 10-year-old film with nonsense like (500) Days of Summer, you can see the difference between good light comedy and bad light comedy. Pidgeon and Hoffman at least hint at complexities of character that make their relationship an interesting prospect.

Everyone posting here must have fallen asleep - SPOILER - did anyone else realize that "STATE AND MAIN" the movie mirrored the movie they were trying to make? Baldwin got the "second chance" at the statutory (SP?) rape only to repeat the mistake? "The only second chance you get is to repeat your mistakes." He did. Sara J. Parker's character got to show her breasts in the movie without the audience seeing her because her back was turned to the camera and the viewers saw Balwin's reaction to seeing her breasts - JUST LIKE IN THE MOVIE they were trying to film. "The old Mill" was a movie about purity - just like the film "State and Main's" message as the writer couldn't live with himself having purgured himself on the stand. There were so MANY dualites to this film.... I didn't get it untill 2/3 of the way into it. Did no one else get that????? I can't believe that I was the only one who did. and one of the final shots of the movie- of the filming of "The Old Mill" was a sign of "Bazoomercom" with the "." being a gunshot!!!! How hysterical. I can't believe everyone else missed it. WOW. This film was Mamet at his creative best. Gotta see this movie. I will again and again.

I guess this is supposed to be a satire on Hollywood making a film in a small town, but it's more of a self-satire on Mamet's own very tired & overdone one-note schtick. This movie is so uneven, goes all over the place from moment to moment, scene to scene. The acting (what there is of it, because as in most Mamet productions, there's a lot of postured readings instead of acting) is like something from a school play rehearsal. Poor Alec Baldwin is supposed to be a star but looks like a baggy villain out of a Chaplin movie. If this movie is supposed to be a put-down of the Hollywood system, it fails miserably. I makes one yearn for blockbuster special-effects. Should be rated Zero.

There are plenty of movies I don't like, but what's notable about "State and Main," a movie about making a movie, is that it got universally good reviews from the critics. After I watch a movie, I like to read reviews of it -- especially ones that agree with me. This is particularly true of movies I hate, so after I watched State and Main, I looked for a negative review. But I was unable to find any critics who hated this one. Some of them mentioned "inside jokes" about the movie business, implying that people like me aren't sophisticated enough to "get it," but I think that's a load of self-important crap. Ha ha -- they all had cell phones! Isn't that funny? The star of the movie was a prima donna. No way! I thought all movie stars were humble and cooperative. I have a feeling that some people found this movie funny only because they wanted to find it funny, because they think it's an "inside joke" and feel cool if they "get it" -- kind of like The Emporor's New Clothes. Rebecca Pigeon, playing Ann, really annoyed me. I thought her acting was terrible, and I later found out that this horrible actress is the director's wife so he keeps putting her in his movies. (2/10)

I am reading these comments and I can't figure it out. How can this many people watch such a horrible movie and like it? I am convinced that the only people that are actually adding comments are people who are either related to David Mamet (screenwriter/director) or diehard fans of his. For me, this movie could not end soon enough. The cast included a long list of B-level stars, but good actors nonetheless. I am personally a big fan of Alec Baldwin, David Paymer, and Charles Durning. But no amount of big names could make up for a horrible script, very poor direction, and the worst cinematic score I have ever heard. Critiquing a movie like this is so hard because there is so much wrong with it. And I had no intention of writing one until I read all of these rave reviews. I will start with what bothered me the most. The music. Not only was it boring and unpleasant to the ears, it was constant. It began with opening credits and didn't end until the rolling credits. Next, I don't know much about David Mamet. He had many talented actors to work with, but did not allow them to shine. Instead he turned them into one of his infamous Mamet-bots. They are so busy trying to be cute that they lose any amount of interest that may have made them successful in the first place (ie. Philip Seymour Hoffman). There are so few moments in the movie that are funny. The jokes that other people have referred to as clever because they go throughout the movie just don't work. The big finale of BAZOOMS.COM being worked into the movie was so predictable that it lost any sense of wit. Chemistry between characters was also missing. Another important element of movies that this one lacks. The most obvious example is the supposed love interest between Hoffman and Pattie LuPone. I never saw it or felt it. And who told LuPone that it if she cocked her head and smiled in every seen it would funny. Its not. Even the very likable LuPone manages to get under the viewer's skin. There are so many subplots that no single story gets the attention to fully form. Which is probably a good thing since not a single story was ever interesting enough to grab my attention. From watching this movie this is what I have concluded about David Mamet. After some successful and entertaining movies he is now in a bubble. He thinks that every idea he has deserves its own movie. Someone should stop being Mamet's yes-man and let him know how it is. All of his ideas aren't funny. In fact, most of them are not. Mamet appears to have undergone the same change that George Lucas has gone through. They hit middle age and have lost their edge. This movie is boring, not witty, and a complete waste of time. I rarely leave a movie with nothing good to say, but this one of them. This is not "artsy" or "insightful". Its boring and dull and reflects the thoughts of man out of ideas and insight.

This gem of a movie was probably not a blockbuster when released. The storyline is thin and almost non-existent, it could be summed up as, "everyone gets the chance to screw up a second time". Nevertheless, there are enough twists and turns to make what story there is interesting. This must be the sort of movie that every good actor and actress would love to have a role in as the screenplay has been written by an accomplished playwright. It is a farcical melodrama rather than a comedy but nonetheless highly enjoyable. A film-making team, hard up on critical funds, has just been thrown out of a small town in New Hampshire. Their movie's plot necessitates the choice of a small town New England locale and a water mill (one reason why they are short of funds is that they had to build an old water mill replica in the New Hampshire town). As the movie begins The Director and his crew find themselves in a small town in Vermont (actually most of the scenes are shot in Connecticut or Massachusetts). The beauty of the location is well-captured by excellent photography. The makers of State and Main did not fall into the trap of shooting the film during the Fall. New England fall colors would be a major distraction although Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy, "The Trouble With Harry", succeeded despite being shot in Vermont at the peak of the fall leaf color season, but then Hitchcock was an exceptional genius. The small town has being going on in its leisurely way until the film crew arrive. The obvious star of "State and Main" is Philip Seymour Hoffman a previously little known Hollywood actor whose first appeared on the screen as the spoiled rich daddy-supported George Willis Jr. In that memorable Al Pacino film, "Scent of a Woman". Hoffman's key role in State and Main is as the author and screen play writer for the movie within the movie. The better known Hollywood star Alec Baldwin plays the lesser role of the film-in making's male star. He is portrayed as a lustful male whose sexual preference is of under age nubile girls. The Director is played by William H. Macy, who is completely unflappable no matter what. The producer arrives after the crew has settled in. The role is played by droopy-eyed David Paymer, who is completely obsessed with money and will bribe anyone to get things moving. The male star lead is almost fatally distracted by a young teenager (Julia Stiles). The female lead and siren, Sarah Jessica Parker, demands substantial extra money for appearing naked in a scene claiming that she has found religion. Hoffman is smitten in the heart by an attractive young woman (Rebecca Pigeon) in the town who is engaged or semi-engaged to the local bad man and town councilor. I will leave it to the reader's imagination to find out if the film crew gets the second chance to screw up again. The movie is directed by David Mamet, a leading American playwright. Mamet wrote the screen plays for well-known movies such as "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "The Untouchables"" , and had a minor role as a performer in the 1986 thriller "Black Widow". He has directed several movies aside from this one in the past 17 years. It is evident that Mamet , who also wrote the screen play for this charming melodrama, was at a loss for a suitable title for the film, just like the director in the play, who wanted to call his movie The Old Mill, only to find out, upon arrival in the Vermont town, that the much advertised Old Mill had burnt down in 1960. Mamet settled on the uninspiring title "State and Main" from the intersection where the town's brand new traffic lights still stand at the start of the movie. Interestingly enough the title for the DVD version of "State and Main" circulating in Greece is translated as "Without Title". I am fairly confident that this little known 102 minute melodrama will become a cine buff's classic one day

David Mamet's `State and Main' is what `Our Town' might have been had it been conceived by a clear-eyed, modern day cynic. In this tale, a Hollywood film crew invades the idyllic hamlet of Waterford, Vermont, determined to capture on celluloid the simple bucolic virtues of a bygone era. The only problem is that those involved with the making of this film-within-a-film lack the requisite innocence themselves to do justice to the theme they purport to be exploring. They are all typical products of the crass Hollywood culture – boorish, self-obsessed and thoroughly amoral. All except the writer of the piece that is, Joseph Turner White (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the one character who is not only in touch with his cravings for a return to innocence, but who passes the moral test laid out for him along those lines at the end. `State and Main' is a clever film, a cute film, a likable film – it just isn't a very FUNNY film. The Mamet specialty – flat, monotone, emotionless line readings – becomes grating and irritating after awhile. Both the small town rubes and the big city elitists come across as little more than tired stereotypes who really don't have anything particularly funny to say. As a result, most of the attempts at humor simply fall flat. We've seen these characters and situations countless times before – the temperamental star making exorbitant financial demands, the lecherous leading man endangering the production with his reckless sexual dalliances, the harried producers and directors fighting a constant transcontinental phone battle with demanding studio heads `back on the coast.' And it just isn't all that interesting. Part of the problem, I think, is that Mamet never really exploits or explores the setting he's chosen. Most of the townsfolk emerge as minor, background characters at best, with the possible exception of Rebecca Pidgeon as Annie, Joe's eventual love interest. Pidgeon, who looks uncannily like Marlo Thomas in her `That Girl' days, seems sweet as all get out, but the atonal delivery of most of her lines hampers the interest we might otherwise find in her character. Actually, none of these characters are very interesting – or very funny. In fact, most of them seem rather pathetic when you get right down to it, and Mamet fails to provide the satirical wit and bite that would mitigate some of their unpleasantness. He doesn't generate the kind of out-and-out, hearty laughter that Christopher Guest derived from his examinations of rural America in movies like `Waiting For Guffman' and `Best of Show.' Mamet's take is, in many ways, so cynical that he seems to have forgotten to engender the kind of affection for his people that helps keep condescension at bay. Or, perhaps, it is really so much simpler than that – maybe he merely neglected to write any truly funny material this time around.