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State and Main [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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On the DVD: Extras don't amount to much apart from a batch of cast-and-director interviews. Of these, Mamet and Macy (who share a dry sense of humour) offer the best value. Baldwin sounds oddly star-struck over his fellow-actors; "I'm a fan more than anything", he gushes. With Dolby 5.1 sound and widescreen (1.85:1) the picture sounds and looks handsome, though in such a dialogue-driven movie visual spectacle's hardly a key priority.--Philip Kemp
Our Price: £2.62 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
"A sleepy Vermont town", notes writer-director David Mamet, outlining the plot of State and Main, "gets invaded by a movie company and ... everyone in the town is suborned, polluted, saddened and ruined. So it's a comedy." As indeed it is--and, despite his typically acerbic summary, one of Mamet's most light-hearted films. At times, as in the shyly blossoming romance between screenwriter Philip Seymour Hoffman (playing Mr Nice Guy for once) and bookstore-owner Rebecca Pidgeon, it turns almost sentimental. Mamet's views on Hollywood are notoriously jaundiced ("Hell with valet parking", he once called it), but State and Main never really sticks the knife in. Many of the characters--the single-minded, manipulative director, the nympho actress who won't bare her breasts for the camera, the seemingly naïve locals who prove no less devious than the incomers--are strictly from stock, and much of the film covers similar ground to Alan Alda's underrated Sweet Liberty (1985). Some of the plot feels over-contrived, too. Since they're planning to shoot a movie called The Old Mill, the filmmakers are disconcerted to find on arrival that said mill burned down 40 years ago. Like, the location scouts wouldn't have noticed? Still, Mamet's dialogue is as crisp and literate as ever and the cast turn in diverting performances--especially the ever-excellent William H Macy as the director, and Alec Baldwin, spoofing his own image, as a predatory star with a taste for underage skirt. Altogether State and Main serves up a diverting satire on the lunacies of showbiz, though lacking the last degree of bite.
Light and gentle Sunday viewing
Review date: 2008-03-14 Rating: 6 out of 10
Crisp and critical reviews of Hollywood are usually accompanied by biting satire and multi-dimensional characters. We see their virtues accompanied by reckless selfishness and inflated vanity. Here was an opportunity to really go to town, showing what happens when the movie machine literally 'lands' on top of its small-town target. Don't get me wrong, this movie does raise a few laughs, and makes you feel warm and fuzzy with its underpinning stories. But the real promise is not realised: characters feel wooden and predictable, the plot rarely surprises and the irritating background music almost feels lifted from a Sunday morning episode of the Waltons. If you want light and gentle, this is for you.
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Reviews
Very worthy if not essential addition to your DVD collection
Review date: 2005-09-25 Rating: 8 out of 10
A typically meticulous and razor sharp script from David Mamet, is delivered beautifully by an very accomplished cast. Excellent performances as usual from the principles - Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H.Macy and Rebecca Pidgeon. Perhaps the most under-rated performance being David Paymer's acerbic Marty Rossen, who delivers some hilariously ferocious and deadpan lines.
Overall, the film perhaps doesn't quite hit the final top gear to make it really stand out from the wealth of biting American "anti-Hollywood" satires, maybe lacking some of the typically darker edginess of Mamet's work, but it certainly packs more than enough wit, warm, style and punch to not be one to dismiss.
Buy it when it's on offer and you won't be dissappointed.
Really enjoyable
Review date: 2002-07-02 Rating: 10 out of 10
I saw this film when it came out and found it very enjoyable and I watched it again recently with some friends, all of whom really liked it too. The plot is straightforward - a love story between the writer of a movie and a girl in the town where the movie is being filmed. But the real pleasure is the character acting and cameos by great actors like William Macy and Sarah Jessica Parker, and the satirical look Mamet takes at the whole business of movie-making.
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rebecca Pidgeon are very sweet and lovable as the somewhat incompetent lovers, and there are some amusing twists and turns in the course of the action, until finally the writer is forced to confront his own situation and choose between the money and his own honour/dignity.
It isn't rolling on the floor laughing stuff, but it is witty, gentle, wise and a very effortless comfort video, and generally better written, better filmed and better acted than other films of the same persuasion, e.g Truly Madly Deeply (which I loved) or Sleepless in Seattle. It is a real blend of romantic comedy and poking fun at the movies. But anyone tuning in for Mamet's customary gritty dark exposes of the seamy side of human nature will be a little nonplussed. Nonetheless, a class act.
Extremely disappointing
Review date: 2001-09-07 Rating: 2 out of 10
This is far and away and without a shadow of a doubt the most tedious movie I have seen for years.
The story, such as it is, develops at a snail's pace, while the actor's look like they can't even be bothered trying to bring this turkey to life. Alec Baldwin sleepwalks through the whole movie, Julia Stiles sounds like she's auditioning for a part she'd really rather not get, and Sarah Jessica Parker shows why she hasn't made many movies since LA Story.
Note to David Mamet: movies work better when they have a plot.
Laborious and predictable
Review date: 2001-08-16 Rating: 2 out of 10
I'm afraid I found this film rather slow and very predictable. I felt the plot needed something a little more to make it more interesting and at best I'd have rated this a "made for TV" movie.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Michael Bradshaw
Michael Higgins
Morris Lamore
Clark Gregg
Allen Soule
Creators:
Michael Higgins (Primary Contributor)
Michael Bradshaw (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: New Line Home Video
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
EAN: 9780780634954
Binding: DVD
ISBN: 0780634950
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC,
Release date: 2001-06-19
Universal product code (UPC): 794043525322
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 106 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2001-01-12
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)