Like in The Winslow Boy , it's in evidence, but not nearly as forcefully as in some of Mamet's earlier work. The way the characters talk is almost naturalistic, although the kinds of things they say are far too clever and intelligent to represent the words and phraseology of the average person. Mamet's writing is an illustration of how the best dialogue in movies often doesn't mirror the way people really talk. State and Main chronicles the trials and tribulations of a production crew trying to make a movie on-location in the small town of Waterford, Vermont. The characters are a mix of Hollywood big shots and small town types.
Problems crop up almost immediately.
The town's historical old mill, where much of the film's action was to have taken place, burned down more than 30 years ago. Barrenger's notorious appetites get him in trouble the minute he meets Carla. State and Main is not consistently funny, but it contains a number of winning scenes and barbed one-liners. And, while Mamet's view of Hollywood types is sharp and cynical, it isn't nearly as nasty as what was portrayed in Robert Altman's The Player . The strength of the cast also helps.