The Player

1992 Robert Altman movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A movie executive finds his career and love life in turmoil when a budding younger executive threatens his job and a failed screenwriter threatens his life. He winds up killing somebody.

This was my introduction to Altman back when I was about ready to quit becoming a teenager although I think I might have seen M.A.S.H. at some point before this. I'm not sure I had seen anything like it, and that was way before I could identify the film references, know who half of the cameos even were, and more than likely not even understand the genres (noir, the murder mystery) that Altman was turning inside out. It's cheerily cynical, almost effervescently bitter, but I likely didn't know enough about the movie industry or Altman's career to understand why.

The scene with Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett, both who are just so good in this, in the police station where they interrogate Tim Robbins and reference Freaks is hilarious. Getting to see Tim Robbins naked and covered in mud was arousing. And seeing Burt Reynolds? That's also arousing.

My friend Kent first recommended this which reminds me how thankful I should be that I surrounded myself with characters who were much smarter and more worldly than I was in my late-teens and early-20s.

Does anybody think my blog writing skills have gone downhill? This is a disaster!

Anyway, I love this movie because of how it toys with the viewers' expectations, especially those of us who have seen more than 12 movies. I think that's how many movies I had seen before watching this the first time. That is not something I'd recommend.

This is for my wife, a woman who apparently is attracted to weird-looking men.