State and Main is a comedy starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rebecca Pidgeon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Julia Stiles, William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin.The plot involves the on-location production in Waterford, Vermont of a film called The Old Mill.It was written and directed by David Mamet.Havoc is wrought on the inhabitants of a small New England town by a troubled film production. After the leading man's penchant for teenage girls gets them banished from their New Hampshire location, a film crew relocates to the small town of Waterford, Vermont, to finish shooting "The Old Mill."As its title suggests, the film depends on the presence of a genuine mill, something the town is reported to possess. Unfortunately, with only days before principal photography begins, it becomes apparent that the mill in fact burned down decades ago. Unfazed, the film's director, Walt Price, places his faith in the ability of first-time screenwriter Joseph Turner White to alter the script; what he doesn't count on is White's apparently bottomless reserve of angst-fueled writer's block.The film's leading lady refuses to do her contracted nude scene unless she's paid an additional $800,000, while a foreign cinematographer offends the locals by messing with a historic firehouse. Meanwhile, the leading man, Bob Barrenger, dallies with Carla, a crafty local teen. Everything comes to a head after Barrenger and Carla are injured in a car accident, which leads White to another emotional quandary and into the arms of local bookseller Annie Black. Meanwhile a powerful movie producer comes to town to help Price with the ensuing mess.State and Main offers plenty of wit and laughs in its lampoons of the movie industry.It is the funniest and most accessible film to date by David Mamet, propelled by the rocket fuel of his showbiz experience and driven by an ensemble cast that simply couldn't be better. Naturally, the writer's dilemma is the meatiest one and he arrives at a solution that's as hilarious as it is morally justified. Along the way, the rigors of film making are explored with farcical abandon, such as how to provide a high-tech product placement in a 19th-century story. His razor-sharp dialogue is gourmet popcorn here--each kernel yields a tasty surprise--and the whole scenario plays out with the breezy assurance of vintage screwball comedy. It's pure gold from start to finish, and even the closing credits offer another reason to laugh.Obviously,the nice thing about it is that it won't disappoint the viewer.

Rebecca Pidgeon (Mamet's wife) has never been so winsome, nor Philip Seymour Hoffman so innocent. It is light fare, but the dialogue, thanks to Mamet's talent, nonetheless has an edge and intelligence missing from most romantic comedies.The Hollywood crew, post-Entourage, seems almost dated, though David Paymer does a good job of seeming tough while remaining surprisingly vulnerable. Clark Gregg, on the town side, does an under-appreciated job of playing the jilted fiancé and future corrupt politician.Contrasting this 10-year-old film with nonsense like (500) Days of Summer, you can see the difference between good light comedy and bad light comedy. Pidgeon and Hoffman at least hint at complexities of character that make their relationship an interesting prospect.

This very enjoyable witty and sophisticated parody of an independent motion picture company selecting a small town in Vermont as a location to make a major film, after being ejected from a small town in New Hampshire (for some unspecified bad behavior), is kind of a David Mamet family project. Mamet is credited as the writer and director. The most compelling character in the film, Ann, who owns and runs the town's book store and heads the town drama club, is played excellently by Mamet's wife, Rebecca Pidgeon. Her brother, Matthew Pidgeon, has a bit part as a British TV newscaster, Mamet's brother Tony plays an electrician. While on the subject of the cast, Broadway musical great Patti LuPone does a nice job, in a very minor role, as the small town Mayor's wife who apparently has high society ambitions and apparently money enough to back up that ambition. She is not someone you want to make angry because the Mayor (Charles Durning effortlessly playing a kind of mild- mannered role I've seen him in before) is also the Town Council. As long as his wife is happy he is thrilled to have the company use his town. Major movie star and heartthrob Bob Barrenger (Alec Baldwin), the male lead of the movie that the fictional film company is making, is an oblivious sex addict with a taste for underage girls. His activities are one of the major problems the film director (William H. Macy) and producers face. Another is that the lead actress (Sarah Jessica Parker), who was cast because of her contractual agreement to play a nude scene as she has done in several earlier films, has changed her mind. A third crisis for the producers has to do with the town's historic mill that was the main reason they chose the town, and a fourth is a splendid stained glass window that is in the way of a crucial camera shot.I would have preferred that the film had a different title than " State and Main." Perhaps something such as "The Old Mill Set" or "Second Chance." I think I noticed two goofs in the film: When a date on the white board has to be written again because it is accidentally erased, it is clearly rewritten on the same date as the original. In a critical later scene it is at a different date. The other is Joseph Turner White (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the fictional first time screenwriter and author of the fictional book the fictional film is based on, says at one point that he has perjured himself although he knows at that time that he was not really under oath when he lied. When watching "State and Main," don't turn it off before the credits or you'll miss some of the wit.

I usually find movies about the film industry to be somewhat tedious and self-indulgent; "Adaptation" comes to mind as an example. "State and Main" breaks the mold as it light-heartedly pokes fun at the film industry, small town life, and a half-dozen other sacred cows. It also has a sweet side, with charmingly bumbling script-writer Joseph Turner White (Philip Seymour Hoffman) finding both romance and a second lease on innocence. It's great to see the talented Mr. Hoffman cast as a romantic lead, even if his character is simultaneously made an object of sport. Spot-on (if necessarily caricatured) performances by William H. Macy, David Paymer, Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Julia Stiles, Clark Gregg, and Michael Higgins multiply the laughs. It looks like the cast had fun making this film; I hope they did!