Blu-ray Review - State and Main
November 15, 2021
Trying to expand his range and take on a different type of storytelling challenge, writer/director David Mamet made "The Winslow Boy" in 1999. It was his first and last G-rated endeavor, focusing on a mild period drama about family, law, and society. The art house release didn't attract much attention, inspiring Mamet to return to his old stomping grounds, making a new R-rated feature about troubled people caught in a multitude of problems. 2000's "State and Main" finds the helmer in a cheeky mood, mounting a satire of the filmmaking process and Hollywood politics, managing fears, leers, and moral uncertainty while paying tribute to classic comedy timing and hectic screen activity. Mamet has the inspiration and the subject, but laughs aren't plentiful in "State and Main," which tries a little too hard to be cutesy instead of merciless as the material surveys a collision of corrupt "movie people" and weird small-town folk. A grand escalation of madness seems to be the idea here, but Mamet has difficulty getting to a point of insanity with a lukewarm sense of humor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
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