Deliciously meta... simply masterful.

| Aug 18, 2023

Part satire of Hollywood and its ever molting presence of dealmakers and sycophants, The Player is also a suspense film wickedly sure of its targets.

| May 9, 2023

I think that The Player fails when it comes to achieving its main objective, pillorying the industry, and that does end up counting for a lot.

| Original Score: C- | Feb 7, 2023

Through Altman's incomparable perspective, The Player would become the ultimate post-modern insider's film, whose deconstructive approach dishes on Hollywood culture in all its insidious glory.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 14, 2022

...movies like The Player bring into harsh light that box office success will trump art most of the time...

| Apr 1, 2021

Altman structures the The Player like a film noir, but one that feels like a tune on a piano being played slightly off-key.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 5, 2019

Noir masterpiece has nudity, lots of strong language.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 22, 2016

The Player, which Altman made after years of struggle, with all Hollywood fascination worn away, is Altman's dour version of Dante's Inferno. His satire forces us to realize the obscenity of Clinton-era corruption - once again.

| Nov 4, 2016

In "The Player," Altman creates a scathing satire of Hollywood - and then lets his satire itself gets seduced by Hollywood schmaltz. Because what better way to show how seductive it is?

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 10, 2016

Altman knew Hollywood, but The Player casts a much wider net by allowing the movie industry to stand in for the shark-eat-shark nature of modern business in general

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 8, 2016

One of the great motion pictures of the 1990s.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 5, 2016

Altman was making a sour, salient, cynical, and passionate point about how artistry and edge had been drained from Hollywood. By 1992, the suits were in charge.

| Jun 3, 2016

"The Player" was an instant classic when it was released, and it stands up to close scrutiny. This is one fun movie.

| Original Score: A+ | Apr 30, 2016

The Player has enough truly hilarious bits and inspired sequences-that baroque opening-sequence shot is a masterpiece in itself-to make it well worth your time, its very silly story is ultimately a fairly paltry piece of social commentary.

| Nov 18, 2015

Altman lets us vacation in Hollywood for a bit but not too long to feel smothered

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 19, 2014

| Original Score: A | Sep 7, 2011

Amusing black comedy on Tinseltown.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 13, 2011

The Player can be admired even more now than it was at the time, because it so succinctly diagnosed the sickness that still causes Hollywood to churn out too much soulless "product."

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 11, 2010

Altman performs a bit of legerdemain, poking fun at the film industry while simultaneously paying tribute to it.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 30, 2010

| Original Score: A | Nov 6, 2009