The film's heart is Joe White (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a playwright turned screenwriter for a major studio film. White passively is torn between the simple life of a romantic interest and the glamourous, hectic lives lived by the film-within-the-film's director (William H. Macy) and stars (Sarah Jessica Parker and Alec Baldwin).
Though this conflict gives the movie a solid arc of change for White, most of the film's characters are static. That's fine, particularly in a Preston Sturges-esque screwball comedy.
Playwright-turned-auteur David Mamet's work usually leaves audiences with a weighty feeling and plenty of discussion matter for the ride home. You won't get that from "State" -- although you might keep chuckling at characteristic one-liners about the unreliability of any source wearing a bow tie and the meaninglessness of the film world's associate producer credit. ("It's what you give your secretary instead of a raise.")
The film's insider-speak might lose viewers who don't appreciate that last joke. As in "The Player," much of this picture's laughs derive from an understanding of the way movies are made.
Still, viewers who scratch their heads over references to call sheets will find "State" charming and witty for its more accessible merits. The large cast shares the screen well and a few, including Hoffman and Macy, shine.
As a featherweight ensemble piece, this picture explores territory new to Mamet, whose work usually focuses on intense dealings between small groups. But he's probably the most clever writer in modern American cinema, and this film is no exception. His sense of timing draws a huge laugh from events as simple as the revelation of the film-within-a-film's title.
The chief moral message of "State," which develops when White is called on to hush up the Baldwin character's felonies, is gleefully cheesy and light. The breezy resolution is also easy, but it doesn't feel like a cheat. That's kind of how the whole film works, in fact.
The Arts & Entertainment Editor
