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Like moths to a flame, great actors gravitate to the singular genius of playwright-screenwriter David Mamet, who updated his Pulitzer Prize-winning play for this all-star screen adaptation. The material is not inherently cinematic, so the movie’s greatest asset is Mamet’s peerless dialogue and the assembly of a once-in-a-lifetime cast led by Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, and Alec Baldwin (the last in a role Mamet created especially for the film). Often regarded as a critique of the Reagan administration’s impact on the American economy, the play and film focus on a competitive group of real estate salesmen who’ve gone from feast to famine in a market gone cold. When an executive “motivator” (Alec Baldwin) demands a sales contest among the agents in the cramped office, the stakes are critically high: any agent who fails to meet his quota of sales “leads” (i.e., potential buyers) will lose his job. This intense ultimatum is a boon for the office super (more…)