On the whole The Player is pretty enjoyable if you can appreciate the avalanche of cameos and insider's jokes. Now, with all the Hollywood self-references this doesn't feel too real and actually the stars-as-themselves look cheap with boring lives from that perspective.
With the counter-productive glamour context constantly out to chew up all the main plot, the movie itself feels like a Noir movie that never really knew how he should behave with so many big people around. The chemistry between the two main characters is cranky at best - and I won't even try to compare to classic poisonous noir couples. Then the plot doesn't really move forward, and when you get used to it and understand it's more about a big inside joke than about a plot, you find it really drags its feet.
Could have been an acceptable joke at 90 minutes max. At over 2 hours it's an over-stretched joke, a movie guilty with self-indulgence and over confidence.
With the counter-productive glamour context constantly out to chew up all the main plot, the movie itself feels like a Noir movie that never really knew how he should behave with so many big people around. The chemistry between the two main characters is cranky at best - and I won't even try to compare to classic poisonous noir couples. Then the plot doesn't really move forward, and when you get used to it and understand it's more about a big inside joke than about a plot, you find it really drags its feet.
Could have been an acceptable joke at 90 minutes max. At over 2 hours it's an over-stretched joke, a movie guilty with self-indulgence and over confidence.