Don't Hate "The Player," Hate the Game

by James Knapke

While watching this film I was impressed with how many inside jokes, and Hollywood celebrity cameos were involved. One scene you will see Burt Reynolds and the next Whoopi Goldberg is a crime-fighting detective. The cast for this movie was crazy to read about with over 60 celebrities and actors making appearances. While watching this film it was not difficult to pick out why this film was a satire or a parody as it is a clear F*%# you to Hollywood and the way the make movies. Now as I watched I could tell that this film was out to portray just how these Hollywood people live and the types of lives they live. From the main character listening to potential screen plays every day to pool parties scattered with big names. One quote that I found was that it was like they were holding a mirror up to Hollywood and showing them just how crazy and out of control things were getting. It is a cutthroat place where dreams go to die and Griffin Mill was in charge of deciding of who lived and died. 

The film opens by going after the people who run Hollywood and the quote “it takes more than a dirty mouth to make it in this business” is a shot at those executives who are at the top. Throughout the film people are pitching sequels or spin offs of already existing Hollywood films. This is playing on the idea that all Hollywood uses are recycled, already popular movie plots and that the writers and producers lack the creative ability to create a film of their own. This film does a good job of showing how shallow and disheartening the film industry is, and the people that are involved. Overall I thought that this movie was very funny and after learning more about the history of it, and where the producer was coming from I respected it even more. I personally am a big fan of parodies and things that poke fun at others right in front of their faces. I thought that the film started off great and very funny, but I thought that it lost its true identity as the murder idea and then the parody aspect conflicted with each other. I enjoyed watching and learning more about this film and the many people it pokes fun at.