Movie Review- State of Play

Well I must admit, I wasn't looking forward to seeing this movie. I am not a huge Russell Crowe fan, though I know he's talented, and I am also not really a fan at all of Ben Affleck. I like thrillers but the trailer didn't make this film look promising. I was glad I was wrong.

Washington Post reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is out to write a story about the killing of a young black man in Washington. He soon finds out that a research assistant for his good friend Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is found dead of an apparent suicide attempt. Its a hot story but he chooses to sit on it because of his friendship, much to the chagrin of his editor Cameron (Hellen Mirren). Even worse, young blogger turned reporter Della (Rachelle McAdams) wants to reveal all of his dirty laundry, especially once it is discovered that Collins was having an affair with the young woman. Once the story is further leaked that the woman was murdered and did not commit suicide, Cal takes it upon himself to investigate the case further to take the heat off of Collins. More is learned of Collins and Cal's friendship when Cal meets up with Collins' wife Anne (Robin Wright Penn). Turns out Collins and Cal have been strained since Cal and Anne slept together. Cal discovers that the young girl's death may have been caused due to Collins' frequent battles with a Military company with deceptive practices. With the help of Della, other reporters and the disaproval of police, led by Det. Donald Bell (Harry J. Lennix), Cal finds himself involved in secrets, lies, and violence that puts everyone involved in danger.

NOTE: Plot explanations for thrillers such as this one are hard to fully flesh out due to the fact that new reveals at every turn that may spoil the plot for those who have not seen the movie.

PROS:
Of course with these group of actors you expect the acting part to be good. And in this case you were right. The makers did a smart thing by making even the supporting cast, such as Harry J. Lennix, Jeff Daniels, Michael Jace, Michael Weston and Jason Bateman, familiar faces who also are very talented. The cast meshed well together and the dialogue had a good mix of smart dialogue and humorous moments. Also, once things were starting to get revealed, the surprises were good and stayed with the plot. They werent erratic and didn't vear from the path of the storyline, though some of them could have had revealed better -some were easy to miss.

CONS:
STOP WHISPERING RUSSELL CROWE, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU! Though it may be his acting style, I had to have my tv's volume hiked up to max to hear him. Secondly, in a few scenes where i honestly feel Russell Crowe may have been tipsy, his accent began to bleed through, much like it did in a few scenes in "American Gangster". In addition, Rachelle McAdams character is a terrible reporter. She was always creeping around conversations and spying. Even into the last scene.

Recommendation:
Rent it.

WRITTEN BY:
Matthew Michael Carnahan
Tony Gilroy
Billy Ray

DIRECTED :
Kevin MacDonald

MAIN CAST:
Russell Crowe ("Gladiator", "American Gangster")
Ben Affleck ("Good Will Hunting", "Armageddon")
Rachel McAdams ("Mean Girls", "The Notebook")
Hellen Mirren ("Gosford Park", "The Queen")
Robin Wright Penn ("Forrest Gump", "Beowulf")
Harry J. Lennix ("The Matrix Reloaded", "Ray")
Jeff Daniels ("The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Speed")
Michael Weston ("Dukes of Hazzard", "Crank:High Voltage")
Jason Bateman ("Juno", "Hancock")
Barry Shabaka Henley ("Life", "Four Brothers")
Viola Davis ("Doubt", "Madea Goes to Jail")
Josh Mostel ("The Chase", "Big Daddy")
Michael Jace ("The Great White Hype", "The Replacements")
Michael Berresse ("Artificail Intelligence:AI")
Steve Park ("Do the Right Thing", "Fargo")

SIMILAR TITLES:
Body of Lies, Zodiac, State of Play (UK mini-series), All the President's Men

NEXT NEW MOVIES TO BE BLOGGED:
Crank:High Voltage-Trailer
Dance Flick-Trailer