Stars: Alec Baldwin, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Charles Durning, Clark Gregg, Patti Lupone, Julia Stiles

Director: David Mamet

Summary: A film crew move into a small town where they find the locals difficult to con. The director is placed in a difficult position when each member of the cast and crew seem to be at odds with his plans for the film...

In the screwball comedy STATE AND MAIN, writer-director David Mamet reveals that the only thing more corrupt than Hollywood moviemaking is a small American town that is willing to stoop to any level to be a part of it. Marshalling an all-star ensemble, Mamet chronicles a movie production's arrival in sleepy Waterford, Vermont. Walt Price (William H. Macy), the smooth-talking, Machiavellian chief of the effort, has four days before shooting begins--he has to scout locations (the old mill he expected to use as a set burned down forty years ago), keep his egotistical stars out of trouble, and charm the locals. The writer, Joe White (Philip Seymour Hoffman), wrestles with endless script changes and finds himself getting involved with a charming Waterford bookshop owner (Rebecca Pidgeon). The townspeople only condemn the slick tinseltown interlopers when they're not currying their favor, hoping for a shot at the big time. Mamet lets each successive crisis among these folks build to hilarious chaos; healthy doses of one-liners and clever plotting are balanced with a character-driven comic tale. Mamet's dialogue, known for its rapid-fire, repetitious wit, is perfectly matched to both Macy's fast-talking damage control and Pidgeon's homespun wisdom--the result is light-hearted comedy that feels legitimately profound.

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"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 Mainnever 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 Mainserves up a diverting satire on the lunacies of showbiz, though lacking the last degree of bite.

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

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Theatrical Trailer, Cast And Crew Features
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2000
Release Date:	August 20, 2001
Runtime:	105 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 093239
Keywords:	Comedy, General, State, Main
Genre:	Comedy