State And Main
Beneath the four-letter words and brusque iconoclasm, bad boy David Mamet is
just a traditionalist after all. His previous film was the masterful, G-rated
adaptation of stodgy British playwright Terence Rattigan's chestnut The
Winslow Boy. His latest revives the classic screwball comedy of the '30s, a
flaky pastry evoking Capra-corn and Preston Sturges, and though it never
attains the heights of its predecessors, it does show how far the genre has
declined. A film crew invades a quirky New England village (actually our own
Manchester-by-the-Sea), and at once it's clear this will be a tale about the
conflict between innocence and hipness, idealism and cynicism, art and money.
Kicked out of New Hampshire because of an indiscretion involving his star, Bob
Barrenger (Alec Baldwin), and an underage girl (a touch of the old Mamet here,
along with the mantra "tits"), the film's director (William H. Macy, who makes
it look easy) finds that the new location for The Old Mill poses
problems as well. Like -- no mill. Plus, there's an ambitious local politico
who wants to shake down the production, more jailbait temptations for
Barrenger, a balky starlet (Sarah Jessica Parker), an earnest screenwriter
(Philip Seymour Hoffman), and the latter's new flame, a savvy local girl
(Rebecca Pidgeon, recalling in her manner the young Katharine Hepburn of
Alice Adams) who might embody the "purity" his screenplay is looking
for. Although heavy on the bon mots (the "electoral college" line that everyone
will be quoting is not only timely but provides an adept reversal of
conventional expectations), State and Main more often is sleek in
construction. Too much so, perhaps -- a few more potholes would have shaken up
this traditional fare. At the Copley Place, the Kendall Square, and the West
Newton and in the suburbs.
-- Peter Keough
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