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12 years after the critical and commercial disaster of "Popeye", maverick director Robert Altman made a stunning return to form with this acerbic Hollywood satire.
Only a film maker of Altman's stature could have persuaded Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, and Cher - among many other famous faces - to make cameo appearances for next to nothing. But while it's fun to spot the likes of John Cusack, Jack Lemmon, and Peter Falk, "The Player" is far more than a showbiz parlour game.
Tim Robbins ("Bob Roberts", "Bull Durham") plays Griffin Mill, a high-flying studio exec whose complacency is shaken when he receives a series of threatening postcards from a writer he's slighted.
Tracking down the man who he thinks is responsible, Griffin ends up killing him. With the police snapping at his heels, he begins an ill-advised romance with the dead man's girlfriend (Greta Scacchi). Meanwhile, back on the lot, his job is threatened by an ambitious rival executive (Peter Gallagher).
From the eight-minute tracking shot that opens the picture to the film-within-a-film that ends it, "The Player" marked a triumphant comeback for the director of "Nashville" and "M*A*S*H". Though some of the comedy is a little forced (especially Whoopi Goldberg's grating turn as a tampon-wielding detective), it's a masterly distillation of Tinseltown foibles which also works as a compelling moral thriller and a commentary on the cult of celebrity.
With the exception of "Short Cuts", Altman's subsequent films have yet to equal this one. But knowing him, he's bound to keep trying.
