Critical Hit - State of Play
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State of Play is a film about a mystery involving the death of a congressman’s aid/mistress. As the film develops, so does the plot which is wrapped in mystery and illegal
tactics. Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is an old school reporter from the Washington Globe who begins to pick up breadcrumbs tying his murder case to a larger one involveing his old college roomate and U.S. Congressmen Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) is a young upstart blogger for the Globe who finds herself working with McAffrey to unravelling the strings behind the conspiracy that Collins has found himself in.
The plot is sound and interesting as it takes things going on in the present day and shows them on screen. In 10 years this film might not be interesting but right now, it it. I was very satisfied with all of it. There were no loop holes, no strings left untied and a satisfing ending. Some of the promotion for this movie says that the film has a twist at the ending that you’ll never see coming. Honestly, this is a lame trick to get you to go see the film. This film can stand on its own feet without that corny kind of promotion. The ending is what is is, I’ll say nothing more of it. The characters are very realistic. No one is black and white, everyone has a different shades of gray just like you and I.
The acting was sound. Really, this is an odd collection of actors. You’ve got Russel Crowe who is one of the best actors today (even though I think the guy is a scum bag in real life, still, he’s excellent at his craft) . Helen Mirren is another top notch actress but her role is small in the film but she makes her presence known when she’s on screen. Rachel McAdams was a nice suprise. I’ve never really seen her in anything but she was very good. Everyone else, Affleck, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman are what they are. I’ve never considered any of them very good. None of them have much of a range when it comes to acting so I just prefer to see films they aren’t in. However, they played their roles believable enough, especially Affleck. One notable standout was Jeff Daniels. He plays Rep. George Fergus who is a dirtbag politician but unforunatly, he isn’t on screen enough to take a lot of notice. I would have liked the plot to display his character more especially given the growing disenfranchisement in this country with ditry politicians.
All in all, I thought this was a decent film. The plot kept my attention the whole time but wasn’t too simply that I could figure it all out right away either. The acting was decent but the leads held it together for the others. If you enjoy a good conspiracy film, then GO see State of Play.
Until next time, keep an eye on your bag and watch out for those Critical Hits!
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