THE PLAYER [1992] review

I always thought THE PLAYER was a baseball movie until only recently. Then I thought it would be more of a comedy and parody or a satire, but not a dark one. So after watching it tonight I was quite surprised to find it a very dark movie, with some violence even, and lots and lots of cynicism, vapidness, and totally devoid of any character to root for as all were as they often said in the movie, “assholes.”

The story unfolds nicely having been setup by a long continuous take right from the opening of the movie and all of a sudden you find the movie turning violent, then with bits of romance, and then some criminal investigation thrown in. The pacing is fairly good and nothing seems left behind story-wise. And maybe best of all it references one of my favorite, little-known Hitchcock films, ROPE.

THE PLAYER shows how fragile the egos are of not only movie stars themselves, but also the people most responsible for getting movies made. You constantly have to work at staying relevant, never knowing when a cooler upstart will swoop in and replace you. You’ve got to maintain your buzz in the industry indefinitely, it seems if you wanted to take a break, you might as well retire forever because you’d never be able to get back in, never mind catch back up.

The ending of THE PLAYER also has a slightly Hitchcock-ian feel to it as the main character suddenly finds himself twisted into a certain fate by the final moments of the story, but unlike most of Hitchcock’s endings, the Player himself can live with it.

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