On P List of Movie Reviews

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The Player (1992)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 7/05, 4/24

Player
7/05: Jerry Seinfeld once said: "What's amazing to me about the library is it's a place where you go in, you can take out any book you want; they just give it to you and say, 'Bring it back when you're done.' It reminds me of like this pathetic friend that everybody had when they were a little kid who would let you borrow any of his stuff if you would just be his friend. That's what the library is: a government funded pathetic friend. And that's why everybody kinds of bullies the library. 'I'll bring it back on time...I'll bring it back late. Oh, what are you going to do? Charge me a nickel?'"

It's what I think whenever I see Tim Robbins. Seriously, who the hell likes him? He has the kind of face I want to punch. Awful camera work, pointless script, unconnected scenes, senseless dialogue, weak characters, and overdone casting are among the many problems that plague The Player which seems to be the closest to An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn in spirit. Lyle Lovett...what's he doing in this? At any rate, it led to his marriage to Julia Roberts.

All in all, Hollyweird needs to get over itself and start doing something about the sex predators who've run rampant in the industry.

4/24: The subject matter of The Player isn't interesting.

Yeah, it's a solid Robert Altman picture with tons of big-name stars in cameo roles, but since the protagonist is a murderer, I don't know why I should care about him. The police investigation disrupts the flow with bad acting jobs by Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett. The strange part is that there are famous people using their professional names yet a few are cast as fictional characters despite them being already well known.

Meanwhile, Tim Robbins' performance is the winning feature. I like the Hollywood stuff, especially how movie deals are done. Not rocket science by any means, producing a successful film is a crapshoot from a profit standpoint, but who cares about the Oscars? It's all about raking in millions, and neither art nor integrity is the primary focus unlike Griffin Mill's silly speech at some awards banquet.

All in all, I usually like Robert Altman's films, but The Player isn't for me.