Posted by bsword at van-bc56-130.netcom.ca on January 02, 2002 at 02:19:44:
In Reply to: Re: What the fuck was wrong with State and Main... posted by Kevin on December 31, 2001 at 19:04:41:
Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Mamet. I love his book 'On Directing Film' and 'Heresy-Common Sense for the Actor'...
but I agree (but who the heck am I anyway?...)that 'State & Main' was a weak film.
Unfortunately I feel the same way about 'The Heist'. I'm not sure if it is Mamet's fault as a director, or writer, or simply the actors, but the dialog actually came off as TOO clevor. Now, I usually love Mamets dialog, but in this case it was often a bit too much to the point of distraction. Especially the actor (I forget his name) who is also a famous magician. Some of his lines were so forced cool that it brought me out of the movie.
I did like Gene Hackman, but found Mamet's wife miscast.
Just my opinion though.
Brian