| Original Score: A | Sep 7, 2011

| Original Score: A | Nov 6, 2009

Hilarious and deadly, this may be Altman's most completely realized film since his glory days in the '70s.

| Oct 18, 2008

[It's] supposed to be scathing, but the pleasure it affords is like what you get from watching the Oscars: celebrity spotting and in-jokes.

| Apr 28, 2008

Mercilessly satiric yet good-natured, this enormously entertaining slam dunk quite possibly is the most resonant Hollywood saga since the days of Sunset Blvd. and The Bad and the Beautiful.

| Apr 28, 2008

A movie about today's Hollywood -- hilarious and heartless in about equal measure, and often at the same time.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 23, 2004

Mr. Altman's most subversive message here is not that it's possible to get away with murder in Hollywood, but that the most grievous sin, in Hollywood terms anyway, is to make a film that flops.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 20, 2003

[Altman] sticks it to every target, himself and us included, with a wicked zest that hurts only when you laugh.

Full Review | Jun 6, 2001

Few Hollywood satires have come close to matching the brilliance of The Player.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 6, 2001

A masterly distillation of Tinseltown foibles which also works as a compelling moral thriller and a commentary on the cult of celebrity.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 17, 2001

From its brilliant and sublime opening sequence to its self-reflexive ending, The Player distills everything that's wrong with the American film industry with the precision of someone who's been there.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 13, 2001

Altman loves practical jokes, and The Player is his craftiest prank, his jolly last laugh.

| Jan 1, 2000

The Player is a rare commodity. It's brilliant and a guilty pleasure.

| Jan 1, 2000