Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?
Altman's Hollywood satire is a genuinely singular achievement — the bravura opening long take alone marks it as cinematographically exceptional, and the ensemble casting (packed with celebrity cameos deployed with precise satirical intent) is masterfully handled. The film's novelty is high: it both IS a Hollywood thriller and ruthlessly mocks the conventions of one, creating a self-referential loop that feels uniquely Altmanesque. Tim Robbins anchors the film with a performance of cool moral vacancy that perfectly serves the satirical design. The plot, while clever in conception, occasionally meanders in its middle section, relying on the murder-mystery scaffolding more as pretext than genuine suspense engine. The ending is bracingly cynical and thematically coherent — evil is rewarded, the system perpetuates itself — but it's a touch too on-the-nose in telegraphing its own Hollywood-formula irony, slightly undercutting its sharpness.