History YMMV / ThePlayer

** ''Habeas Corpus'' is presented as a contrived and farfetched story about a character trying to stop an innocent person from getting executed at the last minute. ''True Crime'' (1999--directed by and starring Creator/ClintEastwood) and ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'' (2003) both have exactly the same premise.[[note]]''The Life of David Gale'' has the prisoner get executed, like the original pitch of ''Habeas Corpus'', while ''True Crime'' has the prisoner getting saved, like the FocusGroupEnding of ''Habeas Corpus''.[[/note]]

* LawfulGood: Alex, for a personal reason; he knows from experience that he's actually TheUnfettered and would damn himself if he didn't have civilized rules to live by.

** A man gets killed in a heated moment by a prominent businessman, who tries to carry on normally while he's being investigated by an eccentric police detective and his more personable female partner. Sounds like an episode of ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'', only in this case, VincentDOnofrio plays the ''victim'', not the detective.

** Susan Sarandon has a cameo as a saintly onlooker in the execution scene in ''Habeas Corpus.'' Three years later, she won an Oscar as a nun in ''Film/DeadManWalking,'' directed by star Tim Robbins.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Made in an era when a brick-sized mobile phone was a status symbol, only a select few had phones in their cars (and talking on the phone while driving was perfectly legal), and the really high-powered executives had in-car fax machines.

** ''Habeas Corpus'' is presented as a contrived and farfetched story about a character trying to stop an innocent person from getting executed at the last minute. ''True Crime'' (1999--directed by Creator/ClintEastwood) and ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'' (2003) both have exactly the same premise.[[note]]''The Life of David Gale'' has the prisoner get executed, like the original pitch of ''Habeas Corpus'', while ''True Crime'' has the prisoner getting saved, like the FocusGroupEnding of ''Habeas Corpus''.[[/note]]

** ''Habeas Corpus'' is presented as a contrived and farfetched story about a character trying to stop an innocent person from getting executed at the last minute. After ''The Player'', ''True Crime'' (1999--directed by Creator/ClintEastwood) and ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'' (2003) both had exactly the same premise.[[note]]''The Life of David Gale'' has the prisoner get executed, like the original pitch of ''Habeas Corpus'', while ''True Crime'' has the prisoner getting saved, like the FocusGroupEnding of ''Habeas Corpus''.[[/note]]

** 11 years after ''The Player'', ''Film/TheLifeOfDavidGale'' had the same basic concept as ''Habeas Corpus'' (protagonist facing execution for a crime they didn't commit).

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Made in an era when a brick-sized mobile phone was a status symbol, only a select few had phones in their cars, and the really high-powered executives had in-car fax machines.

** JerkassWoobie: David Kahane is an eccentric, self-important hothead who needlessly agitates Griffin during their confrontation, but he certainly didn't deserve to die over it.

* HilariousInHindsight: Susan Sarandon has a cameo as a saintly onlooker in the execution scene in ''Habeas Corpus.'' Three years later, she won an Oscar as a nun in ''Film/DeadManWalking,'' directed by star Tim Robbins.

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* SpecialEffectsFailure: The scenes shot in The House feature some truly abysmal green screen effects.

* LawfulGood: For a personal reason; Alex knows from experience that he's actually TheUnfettered and would damn himself if he didn't have civilized rules to live by.

* LawfulGood: For a personal reason; he knows from experience that he's actually TheUnfettered and would damn himself if he didn't have civilized rules to live by.

* Odds are set so equal amounts of money are put on either side of the wager. However, the show likes to put high odds against The Player to make him seem like more of an underdog. In addition, the Pit Boss seems to pick crimes with extremely high initial odds against, which seems to contradict the premise. Odds over 100:1 wouldn't seem to interest the ultra-wealthy any more than betting on the Harlem Globetrotters to win.

* HilariousInHindsight: Susan Sarandon has a cameo as a saintly onlooker in the execution scene in ''Habeas Corpus.'' Three years later, she won an Oscar as a nun in ''DeadManWalking,'' directed by star Tim Robbins.

* HilariousInHindsight: Susan Sarandon has a cameo as a saintly onlooker in the execution scene in ''Habeus Corpus.'' Three years later, she won an Oscar as a nun in ''DeadManWalking,'' directed by star Tim Robbins.