The Player

More than a decade after his big-budget flop Popeye—years that were spent directing small independent films and cable productions—iconoclastic filmmaker Robert Altman made a comeback with 1992's The Player, a sly thriller set in the world of Hollywood studio filmmaking that also served up a wry show business satire with an enormous supporting cast of Hollywood stars playing themselves. Tim Robbins stars as Griffin Mill, an ambitious studio executive in the middle of a power struggle who starts receiving threatening postcards from an unnamed screenwriter. Confronting David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio)—the writer Mill thinks is behind the threats—the exec accidentally kills him and becomes the focus of the police investigation led by detectives Avery (Whoopi Goldberg) and DeLongpre (Lyle Lovett). Peter Gallagher costars as Larry Levy, the rising executive who may be after Mill's job and Greta Scacchi is June Gudmundsdottir, the girlfriend (who Mill begins romancing) of the dead man. Michael Tolkin adapts his own 1988 novel and Altman directs the sprawling canvas with a clarity and wit that recalls his 1970s masterpieces (such as Nashville), coupled with the satirical sensibility of a veteran who's been through the Hollywood ringer and come out alive. For all of the cynicism and politics at its heart, The Player still features likable, compelling characters and riveting scenes of negotiations, power plays, and subterfuge. A lively, bustling film satirizing the business, The Player also boasts numerous stars gamely spoofing themselves, including Buck Henry, Malcolm McDowell, Burt Reynolds, Julia Roberts, Lily Tomlin, and Bruce Willis. Extras on this characteristically excellent Criterion edition include a 1992 audio commentary (with Altman, Tolkin, and cinematographer Jean Lépine), archival and new cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes, and alternate commentaries for the film's famous opening tracking shot. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)