For decades, David Mamet’s three-man play “American Buffalo” has provided a smashing showcase for beloved stars and great actors. The new Broadway revival, which teams Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell, and Darren Criss under the direction of Mr. Mamet’s longtime colleague, Neil Pepe, is no exception.

There’s also a fourth star this time around: Broadway veteran Scott Pask’s set, a maze of color and clutter representing the junk shop run by Mr. Fishburne’s character, Donny. It’s the perfect playground for a scathing satire that will eventually involve physical violence — though as is always the case with Mr. Mamet, words are the most potent weapons.

For the uninitiated, “Buffalo” follows Donny and his cohorts — the ironically nicknamed blowhard Teach (Mr. Rockwell) and a young gopher named Bobby (Mr. Criss) — as they connive to steal back a valuable coin Donny unwittingly sold for less than its worth.

Donny first enlists Bobby, who is desperate for cash, to be his key partner in the scheme, but Teach convinces him that the lad isn’t up to the task. Another plan is hatched, in which Teach reluctantly accepts the participation of a third party he obviously regards with rabid jealousy. Of course, everything that can go wrong does.

Part of the play’s genius, and certainly what makes it so pertinent today, is that Mr. Mamet manages to send up masculinity at its most ravaging — “toxic” would be the current term — without indicting it entirely. While the uneasy intersection of commerce and friendship and the fragility of loyalty are themes here, it is obvious that these men harbor a sort of love for each other, whether it’s the parental concern that Donny shows Bobby or how both Bobby and Teach constantly seek Donny’s approval.

It can’t or at least won’t be ignored that this production opens in the wake of comments Mr. Mamet made about what he said were predatory inclinations among male teachers. The admittedly disturbing remarks during a Fox News interview were made in the context of explaining one of the political views that have alienated some members of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter’s fan base, including critics, in recent years. 

One doesn’t have to defend or agree with Mr. Mamet, though, to appreciate the enduring punch of this play, which is as damning a portrait of our money-driven culture as it was when it had its premiere at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 1975. Both the era and the particular social fringes inhabited by the characters are captured in this staging: A rotary phone is a key prop, and Dede Ayite’s period costumes are accessorized with cheap-looking jewelry. 

Neither Mr. Pepe’s authority in this milieu nor the celebrity stature of his actors has made anyone complacent. All approach Mr. Mamet’s jazzy, profanity-ridden dialogue with energy and dexterity, making it swing and bite. Each character has his own music; Donny is at once the most responsible and the weariest, and Mr. Fishburne, sporting a pinkie ring and a paunch, evokes both qualities with his resonant baritone and heavy movement.

As Teach, arguably the juiciest role — Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman played him in the 1983 Broadway revival and the 1996 screen adaptation, respectively — Mr. Rockwell barrels on stage like a hurricane and never falls out of our focus. A fool who fancies himself a great businessman, Teach is at his funniest and scariest when he’s most serious, and Mr. Rockwell mines his bluster for all its comic potential while keeping us on edge.

It’s Bobby, though, who most hauntingly embodies the consequences for a thriving society’s castoffs. Dimwitted and drug-addled, he is the play’s most flagrant loser, and Mr. Criss endows him with a sweetness and a naïve indomitability that can be heartbreaking. 

If anything, in fact, rising economic inequality has increased the sting of “American Buffalo.” Under Mr. Pepe’s expert guidance, happily, Mr. Mamet’s play remains as heartily entertaining as it is unsettling.