Play It as It Lays

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Play It as It Lays

R,

1972,

1h 39m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

64%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

51%

250+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

64%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

51%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

Burned-out B-movie actress Maria (Tuesday Weld), depressed and frustrated with her loveless marriage to an ambitious film director, Carter Lang, who would rather work on his career than on his relationship with her, numbs herself with drugs and sex with strangers. Only her friendship with a sensitive gay movie producer, B.Z. (Anthony Perkins), offers a semblance of solace. But even that relationship proves to be fleeting amidst the empty decadence of Hollywood.

Bilge Ebiri

New York Magazine/Vulture

Mar 10, 2025

It’s an essential picture.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Sep 28, 2023

4/4

Play It as It Lays is an astringent, cynical movie that ultimately manages to spin one single timid thread of hope.

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Jay Cocks

TIME Magazine

Sep 28, 2023

For Didion the beach, the desert, the freeways and the plastic extravagances of architecture were metaphors. For Director Perry they are just locations.

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Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

Aug 18, 2025

There’s a melancholy to this film that feels undiluted by the intervening five-plus decades.

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Lee Jutton

Film Inquiry

Mar 21, 2025

Play It as It Lays is the rare adaptation of a literary masterpiece that lives up to the source material, and a fitting cinematic tribute to the power of Didion’s pen.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Nov 30, 2023

4/5

…a searing portrait of a world that drives a person to madness…a troubling, serious film that requires multiple viewings, but is firmly recommended to those who take their cinema seriously...

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Rey R

Jan 2, 2017

Well I was hoping this would be a lot better than it was. Given the director the cast and the writer but I'm sorry to report it's a rather dog th well I was hoping this would be a lot better than it was. Given the director the cast and the writer but I'm sorry to report it's a rather dull affair. Here we have Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins together again after their parents in a much more interesting movie for the boys and here we have Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins together again after their pairing in a much more interesting movie Pretty Poison.

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Frank Perry

Director

Tuesday Weld

Maria Wyeth Lang

Anthony Perkins

B.Z.

Tammy Grimes

Helene

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Synopsis

Burned-out B-movie actress Maria (Tuesday Weld), depressed and frustrated with her loveless marriage to an ambitious film director, Carter Lang, who would rather work on his career than on his relationship with her, numbs herself with drugs and sex with strangers. Only her friendship with a sensitive gay movie producer, B.Z. (Anthony Perkins), offers a semblance of solace. But even that relationship proves to be fleeting amidst the empty decadence of Hollywood.

Director: Frank Perry
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: F.G. Film Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 19, 1972, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Mar 7, 2025
Runtime: 1h 39m

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