Movie Review: 'State and Main'

State and Main

type

Movie

Current Status

In Season

mpaa

R

runtime

106 minutes

Limited Release Date

12/22/00

Wide Release Date

01/12/01

performer

Alec Baldwin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Charles Durning, Patti LuPone, William H. Macy, David Paymer, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay, Julia Stiles

director

David Mamet

Producers

El Dorado Pictures, Filmtown Entertainment, Green/Renzi

distributor

New Line Cinema

author

David Mamet

genre

Comedy

David Mamet’s delectably caustic comedy about the making of a big Hollywood movie in a small New England town. William H. Macy draws on electric glints of duplicity to play Walt Price, a celebrated film director who spins the world around his ability to lie — and laugh — in its face. The movie has the vacuum-packed atmosphere of all the films Mamet has directed, yet cleverness, heightened to a pitch of acid-tongued amorality, is both its flavor and its meaning. Mamet has crafted a screwball Day for Night for the infotainment age. B+