Things Change

Perhaps it was his collaborator Shel Silverstein who said to screenwriter David Mamet "Lighten up. Do a comedy." Whatever the case, Things Change was a welcome change of pace for Mamet, both as scenarist and director. Don Ameche also goes against his usual grain by playing a downtrodden Chicago ...more

This gentle fable marked a departure from the stark moralizing and often opaque characters of writer/director David Mamet's other films and plays. Mamet co-wrote the screenplay with poet and cartoonist Shel Silverstein, and at times two main characters seem like stand-ins for the writers themselves: Joe Mantegna's callous, pragmatic gangster is Mamet incarnate, and Don Ameche's impish scapegoat is not unlike one of Silverstein's cartoon heroes. As a director, Mamet allows his camera to take in ...more