State and Main film review

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STATE AND MAIN

With tough and biting work like Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo, David Mamet has established himself as one of America's leading playwrights. However, to make a living he's had to turn to the movies. Being married to the theatre and with Hollywood as his mistress, Mamet has maintained a successful if uneasy truce, but with State And Main he indulges himself by ridiculing an industry that, as a writer, simultaneously rewards and demeans him.

Here Mamet directs and writes a film that takes an hilarious and scornful look at what happens to a small town when Hollywood pays a visit. It's told as a story within a story as the real life travails of Joseph White (Hoffman) begin to echo the events of his script, The Old Mill.

Having been hurriedly forced to leave their previous location, the film crew, led by the smarmy and cynical director Walt Price (Macy), arrive in the picturesque and quaint town of Waterford, Vermont, primarily because the town boasts its very own Old Mill, thus eliminating the need to build one.

Unfortunately, in their haste, no one bothered to find out that the mill had burnt down in a spate of mysterious fires in the sixties. This small oversight is the source of some great early exchanges as White's ability and integrity is challenged by having written a script called the Old Mill only to be told that he no longer has an Old Mill.

The director's casual indifference to the writer's dilemma is Mamet's wry take on the contempt writers are held in by Hollywood. Mamet doesn't restrict his mocking to the plight of the writer, but takes pot shots at every aspect of film-making, highlighted by the arbitrary appointment of 'Executive Producer' status to those being induced to solicit a favour. He also reserves some derision for small town America, showing how vulnerable its inhabitants are to the glamour and swagger of Hollywood.

Hollywood is interested in nothing more than itself. Holding a mirror to its excesses and failings has been a continual source of fascination, exemplified by films like The Player. But with State And Main Mamet has traded judgement for humour, using his privileged vantage point and chiselled wit to create his warmest and most flippant work to date.