Film Review: State of Play

STATE OF PLAY
Directed by: Kevin Macdonald
Performances by: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, and Jason Bateman.
Film Review by: Paul Adam Smeltz

The Film, “State of Play” wastes no time in grabbing the audience’s attention. It’s opening sequence is fill with enough action to cause even the most Como toasted of film viewers heart pumping in anticipatory excitement. Hoever, this momentum is lost as the film becomes a political suspense drama filled with interesting characters played by top notched actors who make every moment of the film believable through their performances.

Russell Crowe plays a well seasoned newspaper reporter named Cal McAffrey who has a story handed to him by his former college room mate and now U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins as portrayed by Ben Affleck soon after a leading investigator (and Mistress) from his office is killed in a subway. The film then examines how the Congressman’s committee inquiries into the activities of companies the US Outsourced its responsibilities to were involved in the investigator’s death revealing a conspiracy by the corporations to take over the reins of government. The film then proceeds to issue its indictment against the practice of outsourcing and explores how far such companies are willing to go to protect their financial investments and continue doing business as usual without any thought of oversight by any government agency responsible to the public interests. The Cal McAffrey character is soon joined by another journalist named Della as played by Rachel McAdams who moves from being a reporter satisfied by presenting gossipy titillations as news to an thorough investigative reporter like her mentor.

The first thought which came to this reviewer while watching this film was, “Where was all this investigation in 2002?” It’s no secret the mainstream media simply went along with the press releases they were given by the previous administration. It’s also no secret the congress served as a rubber stamp in its passage of several pieces of legislation such as the infamous “Patriot Act.” No one investigated the activities of BlackWater or other companies who took over duties normally handled by the military. No one even questioned if the war in Iraq was a good idea or not.

Thank goodness things has changed in 2009. Or, has it? Is there any investigative reporters looking into anything more serious as to whether “ShamWow” is as absorbent as it claims to be? For this reviewer, this was a large suspension of disbelief to overcome. Another aspect of the film which made it a bit implausible was the incompetence of an assassin who did incredibly stupid things.

The first was looking into the security camera after killing the Congressional Investigator in the subway. The second was shooting a witness to his actions in the opening sequence from across the street while the witness was surrounded by hospital staff and police. The final act of stupidity was shooting at the Russell Crowe character while he was riding piggy back on a car whose passengers had a very good look at hem prior to him pulling out his gun. Perhaps this was all to show how incompetent those working for Outsourced companies are.

However, what made the implausible somewhat more believable was the high quality of the acting and direction throughout the film. Even if one never quite sees the logic of the film, the enjoyment of seeing some truly wonderful acting makes seeing it all worth while. No one watching “State of Play” has any cause to regret spending their time or money experiencing it.

“State of Play” is rated PG and is based upon the critically acclaimed BBC miniseries. It is currently running at The Pocono Community Theatre in East Stroudsburg, PA. You may visit their website or call 570-421-3456 for show times and dates. Most films run one week from Friday to Thursday but some films may be held over for an additional week or two depending on ticket sales.