# State and Main
**State and Main** is a 2000 American comedy-drama written and directed by [David Mamet](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-mamet), in which a Hollywood film crew descends on a small New England town to shoot a period picture called *The Old Mill*, bringing corruption, vanity, and romance with it.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_and_main) The film stars [Philip Seymour Hoffman](https://www.edgepedia.org/philip-seymour-hoffman), William H. Macy, [Alec Baldwin](https://www.edgepedia.org/alec-baldwin), Sarah Jessica Parker, David Paymer, Rebecca Pidgeon, Charles Durning, Patti LuPone, and Julia Stiles, and was produced by Sarah Green for El Dorado Pictures with distribution by Fine Line Features.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | David Mamet, his first pure comedy as director according to Roger Ebert[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN) • [3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-and-main-2000) |
| Release | Los Angeles and New York openings 22 December 2000; wide release 12 January 2001[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_and_main) |
| Runtime and rating | 102 minutes, rated R (AFI); listed at 105 minutes with an R rating on streaming platforms[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/state-and-main) |
| Principal cast | Philip Seymour Hoffman as writer Joseph Turner White; William H. Macy as director Walt Price; Alec Baldwin as star Bob Barrenger; Sarah Jessica Parker as Claire; David Paymer as producer Marty[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN) • [5](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=gX4uGCBUiPQ) |
| Awards | 7 wins and 8 nominations, including Florida Film Critics Circle awards for Best Screenplay and Best Ensemble Cast and a National Board of Review award for Best Acting by an Ensemble[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120202/awards/) |
| Box office | $6.9 million gross in the United States[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_and_main) |
| Critical reception | 85% Tomatometer on Google Play's listing; Metacritic critic reviews include scores of 90 (Los Angeles Times) and 88 (New York Daily News)[5](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=gX4uGCBUiPQ) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-and-main/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Director Walt Price ([William H. Macy](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-h-macy)) and his crew arrive in the small town of [Waterford](https://www.edgepedia.org/waterford), Vermont, after a hurried exit from a [New Hampshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-hampshire) location, a departure the director will explain only in a whisper.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-and-main-2000) • [8](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/state-and-main) The stated reason for the move is the need for a period-appropriate old mill; the real reason is that the film's star, Bob Barrenger (Alec Baldwin), has a weakness for underage girls, and the production has already fled one town after a similar incident.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-and-main-2000) • [9](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/state-and-main)
Waterford at first seems ideal: it has a firehouse, supportive citizens, and an old mill. The crew then discovers the mill burned down decades earlier, in a spate of suspicious fires around 1960, and Price orders his screenwriter, Joseph Turner White (Philip Seymour Hoffman), to rewrite the scene, a demand that strikes at the heart of a script whose title is *The Old Mill* itself.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-and-main-2000) • [10](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/93204--state-and-main-dvd/) Price and the producer, Marty ([David Paymer](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-paymer)), juggle charming the mayor into a permit to shoot on Main Street, persuading the camera-shy starlet Claire ([Sarah Jessica Parker](https://www.edgepedia.org/sarah-jessica-parker)) to perform a nude scene her contract provides for, and keeping Barrenger away from local teenagers.[8](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/state-and-main) • [5](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=gX4uGCBUiPQ)
The emotional center belongs to Joe White, who falls for Ann ([Rebecca Pidgeon](https://www.edgepedia.org/rebecca-pidgeon)), the owner of the local bookstore and an amateur writer who helps him with his rewrites.[10](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/93204--state-and-main-dvd/) • [3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-and-main-2000) When the shy, idealistic writer witnesses Barrenger with a local teenager, Carla ([Julia Stiles](https://www.edgepedia.org/julia-stiles)), he faces a moral quandary while his employers press him to keep quiet, and the smooth-talking director and aggressive producer pressure him to set aside his convictions for the sake of the film and his career.[9](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/state-and-main) • [11](https://www.showtimes.com/movies/state-and-main-1727/)
## Cast and production
The ensemble mixes marquee names with theater and independent-film veterans. AFI credits Alec Baldwin as Bob Barrenger, Charles Durning as Mayor George Bailey, Clark Gregg as Doug MacKenzie, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Joseph Turner White, and [Patti LuPone](https://www.edgepedia.org/patti-lupone) as Sherry Bailey, with the full credited cast running to more than twenty named parts.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120202/awards/) Behind the camera, Mamet worked with cinematographer Oliver Stapleton, editor Barbara Tulliver, production designer Gemma Jackson, and composer Theodore Shapiro.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN)
Mamet drew the material from roughly two decades in the film business, and the film is filled with gags gleaned from that experience.[12](https://intofilm.my.site.com/portal/film/a5K4I000000kIWdUAM/state-and-main) He named [Preston Sturges](https://www.edgepedia.org/preston-sturges), the writer-director of *The Great McGinty* and *Sullivan's Travels*, as the formative influence, describing the film as an attempt to reproduce Sturges's "American gang comedy style" of ensemble oddballs, cranks, and crooks rather than an homage.[13](https://www.phase9.tv/state-and-main-2000-about-the-production/) Mamet summarized the subject as "the intersection of two cultures: rural America and show business," symbolized by the two streets of the title.[13](https://www.phase9.tv/state-and-main-2000-about-the-production/)
The [Harry Ransom Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/harry-ransom-center) at the University of Texas holds Mamet's papers for the production, including location-scout notes, shooting schedules from August and September 1999, storyboards, and a set newsletter titled *State of Main* that ran from September to October 1999.[14](https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/pdf/00486.pdf)
## Reception and awards
Critics generally received the film as an accessible, lighter turn for a writer known for abrasive dialogue. Roger Ebert, the longtime [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic, called it Mamet's first pure comedy and praised its playful use of dialogue, noting that with a few adjustments it could play on stage as a farce in the *Noises Off* tradition.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-and-main-2000) Screen International's review from the Toronto festival press screening called it Mamet's most accessible feature to date, while cautioning that the satire was gentler than Mamet fanatics might expect.[15](https://www.screendaily.com/state-and-main/403666.article) The International Film Festival Rotterdam program, which screened the film in 2001, singled out the staccato dialogue and the cast's evident pleasure in mocking their own images, with particular praise for Hoffman as the idealist scriptwriter and Macy as the tortured director.[9](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/state-and-main) Not all reviews were warm; James Bowman, writing in December 2000, found the film slow-moving and sluggishly edited for a comedy.[16](https://eppc.org/publication/state-and-main/)
The film's awards record centers on its ensemble and screenplay. The Florida Film Critics Circle gave it both Best Screenplay and Best Ensemble Cast for 2001, and the [National Board of Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-board-of-review) named it Best Acting by an Ensemble for 2000.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120202/awards/) Casting director Avy Kaufman won the Casting Society's Artios Award for Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy, and the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival gave its Jury Awards for Best Film to Mamet and Best Supporting Male to Macy.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120202/awards/) David Mamet was also nominated for Best Screenplay honors from the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Online Film Critics Society, and the film received Golden Satellite nominations for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, and for Pidgeon's supporting performance.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120202/awards/)
Commercially, the film grossed $6.9 million in the United States.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_and_main)
## Place in Mamet's work and in Hollywood satire
An academic study of Hollywood satires notes that few films in the genre deal with the mechanics of production, since even well-known satires such as *The Player* stop at casting and script conferences; *State and Main* instead shows the act of production itself as fraught with hypocrisy, and focuses on the interaction between the Hollywood visitors and the townspeople they disrupt.[17](https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1115/2/02whole.pdf) The same study argues that the film's satire softens because it wants to show integrity triumphing alongside corruption, a reading consistent with the romantic subplot between Joe and Ann.[17](https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1115/2/02whole.pdf)
Within Mamet's career, the film followed the historical drama *The Winslow Boy* and marked a deliberate move into lighter territory; Mamet told interviewers he admired directors such as William Wyler and Stanley Kubrick who worked across forms, and that he liked to try different ones himself.[9](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/state-and-main) • [18](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/12/22/film-notes/24f19a4b-22c0-4987-8e68-45c80fbf0ac9/) A scholar of Mamet's authorship has described his consistent circulation within American independent cinema since the early 1990s as having established him as a brand name despite modest box-office returns, with the film part of his attempt to re-engage mainstream Hollywood around 2001.[19](https://shura.shu.ac.uk/20466/1/10701113.pdf)
## References
1. [State and Main (2000), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61859-STATE-AND-MAIN)
2. [State and Main, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/state_and_main)
3. [State And Main movie review & film summary, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (December 22, 2000)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/state-and-main-2000)
4. [State and Main streaming: where to watch online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/state-and-main)
5. [State and Main, Movies on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=gX4uGCBUiPQ)
6. [State and Main (2000) - Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120202/awards/)
7. [State and Main critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/state-and-main/critic-reviews/)
8. [State and Main - Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/state-and-main)
9. [State and Main, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2001](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2001/films/state-and-main)
10. [State and Main, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/93204--state-and-main-dvd/)
11. [State And Main - Movie Synopsis and Plot, Showtimes](https://www.showtimes.com/movies/state-and-main-1727/)
12. [State And Main, Into Film](https://intofilm.my.site.com/portal/film/a5K4I000000kIWdUAM/state-and-main)
13. [State and Main (2000) - About the production, Phase9](https://www.phase9.tv/state-and-main-2000-about-the-production/)
14. [Mamet, David, 1947- finding aid, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin](https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/pdf/00486.pdf)
15. [State And Main review, Screen International (Agnes Poirier, 20 September 2000)](https://www.screendaily.com/state-and-main/403666.article)
16. [State and Main, James Bowman, Ethics & Public Policy Center (December 1, 2000)](https://eppc.org/publication/state-and-main/)
17. [Greg Jericho, Hollywood Dreaming: Satires of Hollywood 1930-2003, PhD thesis, James Cook University (2004)](https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/1115/2/02whole.pdf)
18. [Film Notes: Mamet's Comic Relief, The Washington Post (December 21, 2000)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/12/22/film-notes/24f19a4b-22c0-4987-8e68-45c80fbf0ac9/)
19. [Sheffield Hallam University research deposit, on David Mamet's authorship in American independent cinema](https://shura.shu.ac.uk/20466/1/10701113.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2000 to 2002 › Comedies of 2000*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license