"The Player" is a film with a lot of technical effort and work on display, but the story is so weak, tiresome and meaningless that this film will disappoint anyone willing to look past the fluff. The opening shot of the film is the most entertaining part of the entire feature: a single long tracking shot featuring a variety of laughable Hollywood types going about their business. The film falls apart, however, when it expects us to actually care about these characters.
The Player is about an executive who is blackmailed by a mysterious rejected writer. This is a premise loaded with possibilities, but the protagonist bumbles through the weak plot as if determined to be as boring as possible. We aren't supposed to like him, but we don't actively dislike him either; we don't care at all what happens to him, and since the film's message is made clear within its first shot, there is no point to wasting 2 entire hours on this overrated film. The message is that Hollywood people are phony and hypocritical--hardly an inspired concept. And yet the film reiterates this tired, cheap idea over and over as if its audience is too stupid to grasp it the first time. This leads to a clichéd "clever" ending that might impress preteens but only serves to repeat the film's meager message for the umpteenth time.
I was hoping this film would move me or make me think, but The Player seems mostly comprised of filler. Even the romance subplot feels contrived and empty; the film presents Greta Scacchi's character as if she will have some depth and purpose, but she is a stereotypical vessel who, like most of the characters, ultimately acts as little more than a cheap plot device.
The film has many allusions to classic cinema, such as the motif of an abrupt zoom in on old film posters. This, however, is NEVER clever, subtle, or unexpected because the film hits you over the head with these allusions and overuses them relentlessly, as if Altman couldn't stop saying "See what I did there?? It's that thing some of you recognize!"
There is cute window dressing throughout the picture, but most frequently this film uses an unconventional or awkward shot just for the sake of being unusual. Many people have mindlessly praised this as brilliant and avant-garde, but there is no inspired meaning to the odd yet frankly drab cinematography. It does not make you think, it does not make you uncomfortable, it does not impart a message.
The Player is about an executive who is blackmailed by a mysterious rejected writer. This is a premise loaded with possibilities, but the protagonist bumbles through the weak plot as if determined to be as boring as possible. We aren't supposed to like him, but we don't actively dislike him either; we don't care at all what happens to him, and since the film's message is made clear within its first shot, there is no point to wasting 2 entire hours on this overrated film. The message is that Hollywood people are phony and hypocritical--hardly an inspired concept. And yet the film reiterates this tired, cheap idea over and over as if its audience is too stupid to grasp it the first time. This leads to a clichéd "clever" ending that might impress preteens but only serves to repeat the film's meager message for the umpteenth time.
I was hoping this film would move me or make me think, but The Player seems mostly comprised of filler. Even the romance subplot feels contrived and empty; the film presents Greta Scacchi's character as if she will have some depth and purpose, but she is a stereotypical vessel who, like most of the characters, ultimately acts as little more than a cheap plot device.
The film has many allusions to classic cinema, such as the motif of an abrupt zoom in on old film posters. This, however, is NEVER clever, subtle, or unexpected because the film hits you over the head with these allusions and overuses them relentlessly, as if Altman couldn't stop saying "See what I did there?? It's that thing some of you recognize!"
There is cute window dressing throughout the picture, but most frequently this film uses an unconventional or awkward shot just for the sake of being unusual. Many people have mindlessly praised this as brilliant and avant-garde, but there is no inspired meaning to the odd yet frankly drab cinematography. It does not make you think, it does not make you uncomfortable, it does not impart a message.