State And Main Directed By David Mamet

By RICHARD CORLISS

The invading army of a movie crew occupies a Vermont town. Pinwheeling with the crackle and congestion of a Preston Sturges farce, Mamet's fastest, funniest script gives sharp lines ("That's not a lie; that's a gift for fiction") and wild invective ("I'm gonna tear out your heart and piss on your lungs through the hole in the chest") to a cast that feasts on the dialogue like an old-time studio boss on a starlet's plump naivete. Hail to Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Paymer and the other confectors of this tasty inside dish.

--By Richard Corliss