Quick recap: Griffin Mill is a Hollywood studio executive who is sent death threats from an unknown writer he passed over for a script. Being the jerk that he is, the suspects are endless.

Fun (?) fact: None of the celebrity cameos were written into the script. Basically, they just showed up, improvised their lines and got put in the film. Julia Roberts, among others, did her cameo for free.

My thoughts: Oh, Robert Altman, why must you toy so with my emotions? First, you bring me The Long Goodbye, arguably one of my favorite finds on this list but then you disappoint me so deeply with Nashville. My wounds are still healing from that heartbreak. When I saw that The Player was filled to the top with celebrities, my heart sank once again and I longed for the wit that was Elliott Gould.

The beginning of The Player was a hot mess, even more than Nashville with its 30 plus subplots. It was filmed in one long take with actors galore discussing ‘Hollywood’ stuff, most of which went too fast for me to get. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes into the movie that I realized Tim Robbins was the main character. In fact, for at least 2/3 of the film it’s easy to get lost in the sea of characters and to forget that there really is a plot. Most of the time it just felt like Altman was bragging about all of the cool friends he has.

Tim Robbins’ performance was perfect and I’m a little surprised why so many people look to Shawshank Redemption as his best, when it is clearly this movie. No one can play asshole quite like he can. I enjoyed seeing him slip further and further into the role of slimy Hollywood studio executive until he was completely gone.

The only saving grace for this film came from the most unlikeliest of places: Lyle Lovett. Yes, THAT Lyle Lovett.

He wasn’t onscreen too often, but when he did appear, I loved every minute. I should note here that The Player is considered a comedy, a fact I find most surprising since I didn’t find much to laugh at. I think part of the issue is that the comedy relies  so heavily on the cameos, most of which I either didn’t recognize or care about. It kind of reminded me of watching Golden Girls as a kid. Most of the references were so specific to the time period in which the show took place that it took away from the hilarity a bit. Lyle Lovett, however, kept me interested until the very end. Someone should make a movie starring just him in this role. I’d pay good money to see that.

Final review: 2/5. I get the larger theme that this is a parody of what goes on in Hollywood, but since I’m not a studio executive, the humor was lost on me.

Up next: a Ferris Bueller Quote-A-Long at the Drafthouse!

Thanks to Vincent for requesting this movie. There’s nothing I love more than having ragtime stuck in my head for two days straight. 

Quick recap: After a close friend is murdered by a mobster, a couple of guys decide that the only course of action is to pull off a ridiculously complicated scheme.

from season 12- The Great Money Caper. All other seasons past 9 are dead to me.

Fun (?) fact: The Sting is based off the real exploits of brothers Charley and Fred Gondorf, who ran a scheme called ‘the wire’ in 1914. Their ‘mark’ testified against them and the brothers spent several years in prison. Neither learned a lesson and continued scheming people for several years to come.

My thoughts: I’m not usually a ‘blonde hair, blue eyes hunky guy’ sort of girl, but there is just something about Robert Redford that I absolutely adore. I haven’t seen many of his movies but after his performance in All the President’s Men, I was game for whatever. I didn’t love him as much in this role but he was still wonderful.  Paul Newman was excellent as well, and I would go so far as to say I enjoyed his role much more, but in the end it all goes back to Robert Redford.

As for the actual story, I think I viewed this movie too late at night because I was thoroughly confused most of the time. Or maybe ‘the sting’ was to con the viewer all along. Maybe I was the mark??? Nah, it was most likely exhaustion. Anyway, as much as it annoyed me to not know what was going on most of the time, I also liked how everything came together at the very end. It was much easier to focus on the big picture rather than trying to catch each detail of the con. I think at some point I also realized that I would be a perfect mark if someone decided to con me. It’s fine to not focus on little things sometimes, but not when you are about to be swindled out of thousands of dollars.

What I loved most about The Sting was the style of the movie. The scene is early 1930’s Chicago and it looks like it for the most part, save for the ragtime music which was popular in the early 1900s. I really loved the segue to different scenes, using a card to announce what was about to happen. It was like I was being let in on the con, although I still had no clue how everything would go down.

I’m not sure I would consider Johnny Hooker (Redford) and Henry Gondorff (Newman) bad guys. They were certainly on a shadier side of the law, but compared to Doyle Lonnegan, the mobster, they were essentially harmless. The only violence on Hooker’s side was killing that one woman, but that was only because she was about to murder him. I’m curious if cons like this still go on because it seems like a much more clean way of revenge, although not very efficient. My answer is most likely no, because of Snopes. com, which ruins all the fun.

Final review: 4/5

Up next: Two Lane Blacktop. There is still time to suggest a movie you want to see reviewed! Just comment on this post or email at mabelsfa56@gmail.com.

The 1001 movies list