After the major flop of "Popeye," Robert Altman submerged out of sight for 12 years before reappearing with this slick, cynical black comedy/drama about Hollywood, written by Michael Tolkin after his novel. Griffin Mill (Robbins) is a studio script screener very much on the make. A writer whose script he rejected starts sending him threatening but anonymous postcards, attempting to blackmail Mill. Griffin tries to buy off his tormenter, but in a case of mistaken identity, he does something REALLY bad which gives the blackmailer even more ammo to use against him. Mill also finds himself falling in love with June Gudmundsdottir, a gorgeous, innocent babe caught up in this mess (Scacchi). Whoopi Goldberg plays the foul-mouthed, aggressive Detective Susan Avery investigating the cavalcade of crimes, and there are at least five dozen cameo appearances by various stars, from Jack Lemmon, Elliott Gould, and Cher to John Cusack, Nick Nolte, and Julia Roberts. (When will Bruce Willis and Martin Mull, or Harry Belafonte and Lily Tomlin, or Buck Henry and Kathy Ireland, ever appear in a movie together again?) The film opens with a celebrated 8-minute continuous tracking shot that includes characters talking about great tracking shots in classic older movies.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
