The Player

1992 Directed by Robert Altman

Everything you've heard is true!

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

Tim Robbins Greta Scacchi Fred Ward Whoopi Goldberg Peter Gallagher Brion James Cynthia Stevenson Vincent D'Onofrio Dean Stockwell Richard E. Grant Sydney Pollack Lyle Lovett Dina Merrill Angela Hall Randall Batinkoff Jeremy Piven Gina Gershon Michael Tolkin Steve Allen Richard Anderson René Auberjonois Harry Belafonte Karen Black Michael Bowen Gary Busey Robert Carradine Cher James Coburn John Cusack Show All…

Alternative Titles

O paiktis, I Protagonisti, 플레이어

thriller comedy crime drama

124 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 14

The Player is a Hollywood satire which, as all great satire does, looks less like satire today than it did when it was made.
Tim Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a big studio producer worried about being pushed out of the business by younger talent. He's been receiving death threats via postcards from a writer he snubbed at some indeterminate point in his career. When he thinks he's found a lead, he goes out to investigate and ends up killing a writer. He is forced to cover up his crime while maintaining his position at the studio and juggling his budding romance with—of all people—his victim's widow.
And for the most part, Griffin Mill is a pretty sympathetic guy. We all…
Review by brat pitt ★★★★½ 4

hail caesar (2016) WISHES!!!!
Review by iana ★★★★ 4

i really should start checking if the film has nudity before i start watching it in the library and i look up from writing notes to see tim robbins with his dick out
Review by Evan Eaton ★★★★★

'Your Hollywood is dead.'
These are the words of a mystery-writer harassing a failing studio-exec, the validity of the comment laying weight to a perfectly disguised comedic veneer. From the opening snap of The Player's clapperboard, Altman is constantly challenging the limitations of criticism one can make on Tinseltown, grounding it with his most fluid and far-reaching camerawork. In supplements featured on the Criterion release, production-designer and son Stephen Altman talks openly about Altman's unique approach to the mind-boggling opening take:
- 'He had me build a model of our location-studio and he put a little crane in there, and he worked out how to make the opening of the movie a full ten-minute take. He would smoke a joint,…
Review by truman ★★★★★

a real hollywood ending
Review by Siegel ★★★★★ 2

I'm gonna let those big fat 5 stars and the orange heart speak for themselves. Definitely a new top 10 favorite. Better than both Hail Caesar and Sunset Boulevard

Recent reviews

Review by mmarrone ★★★★

At first I wasn't sure where this film was going. It's a little all over the place and uniquely shot. Tim Robbins would be having a conversation, but in the background there are two or three others going on as well, which made it difficult to comprehend what exactly was happening.
However, about a half hour in, this film finds its footing. Once it gets into the meat and potatoes of the story, you're buckled in for the next hour and a half. Along the way, it's fun to see all the incredible cameos Altman sprinkles throughout like Cher, Peter Falk, or Jeff Goldbloom. The Player is worth a play.
Review by sgwa ★★★

Eh
Review by karlistone ★★★½

all in all, I expected it to be more captivating. A little more plot development in the middle could have made it much more interesting. However, the ending was fabulous!
Review by Calvin Kemph 🤠 ★★★★½

Stories are as good as their ending and The Player is a knowing dissection of the movie ending, and one that twists the knife beautifully in its final minutes. It’s a beauty, Altman makes such clever use of the camera, it’s own device of exposition, to tell a meta Hollywood story with a sly wink and nod. Hollywood is baked into its fabric. It exists within the universe of cinematic memory, tangibly connected to the history of cinema, representing a real space between all the classic films discussed within it. Altman creates a defined space of time and history and implements a thrilling meta narrative inside it. A knock out picture.
Review by Alan ★★★★

The cast! The meta opening and ending! The meta commentary on Hollywood movies! Tim Robbins performance! Altman's directing! Tim Robbins' muddy dick! This movie is so unique and I love it!
Review by taupi ★★★★

first altman
Review by Griffin Bolte

Yo 🤯🤯 Such sensibility, such style. Altman the big dog. That’s Hollywood, baby
Review by MHORKY ★★★★½

How is Tim Robbins THAT tall?!?
Review by j__guerrero ★★★★½

This movie was amazing. I definitely have to revisit this again soon. This is peak Hollywood and the cast was phenomenal.