Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Updates:

State of Play (2009)

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Time Out rating

Average user rating

14 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Paul Abbott’s widely admired London-set BBC political thriller series may have taken a mere six years to receive a Hollywood makeover, but it seems to have aged at least 30 in the process.
For a start, its star Russell Crowe’s interpretation of Cal McAffrey would look at home among the insouciant, long-haired mavericks of the 1970s. He’s the scruffy Washington Globe reporter whose relationship with school chum and ambitious congressman Ben Affleck becomes complicated as the latter becomes implicated in two hitherto unconnected murders.

Likewise, its director, the Brit Kevin Macdonald (‘The Last King of Scotland’), is more occupied with self-consciously reviving the paranoid newsdesk atmosphere of a number of ’70s conspiracy movies than with developing the script’s intriguing play on present-day credit-crunch anxieties and online/old-school hack rivalries.

That said, and despite the clichéd nature of much of the dialogue and the derivative thriller set-ups, ‘State of Play’ provides sufficient old-fashioned entertainment value to justify the ticket. It plays well as a newspaper movie, with some nice banter – including some enjoyably sharp jibes at the blogosphere – between the hardened professional ethics of McAffrey and the politically correct protestations of his ingénue hack partner Della Frye (a perky Rachel McAdams). Helen Mirren provides a ripe turn as a profane version of Tina Brown, and the ever radiant Robin Wright Penn makes a seductive McGuffin (or is she?). Macdonald’s handling of the material is confident,
if never inspired, and the film is ably shot by the talented Mexican DoP Rodrigo Prieto in widescreen.

Author: Wally Hammond 2009-04-21 10:58:59

Time Out London Issue 2018, April 23-29, 2009

Bookmark

User reviews of this film

NikWatt said...

Posted on May 23 2009 00:55 I was REALLY looking forward to this. Have I saved my money or have I missed something I'd enjoyed anyway..

Report as inappropriate
Nik 283 said...

Posted on May 23 2009 00:53 I was SO looking forward to seeing this movie: thanks for saving me the money!!

Report as inappropriate
holly gabriel(pooch) said...

Posted on May 16 2009 11:10 I found the film to be utterly deflating. Having seen the brilliant tv series i was thoroughly looking forward to the film. The biggest disappointment for me was Mirrens depiction of the character wonderfully portrayed by the ever excellent Bill Nighy.

Report as inappropriate
critique said...

Posted on May 07 2009 11:05 Talky, stagey tedium, enlivened only by a couple of suspenseful action pieces.

Report as inappropriate
ZN said...

Posted on May 06 2009 14:27 I thought this was really really really good!

Report as inappropriate
Raymond Anderson said...

Posted on May 05 2009 16:22 I worked for 41 years in newspaper offices and this film struck me as authentic. I particularly liked Mirren's description of the young blogger as being cheap and producing loads of copy. How manytimes have I heard that? This is a quality film with Crowe in cracking form and the director moving things along at pace. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Report as inappropriate
Harry said...

Posted on Apr 28 2009 19:59 I liked this film alot. but im no critic

Report as inappropriate
mary said...

Posted on Apr 28 2009 10:00 Worth going to see. Crowe excellent in the role. Mirren suits it too. Keeps attention throughout

Report as inappropriate
oldbrit said...

Posted on Apr 26 2009 21:02 I enjoyed the TV version of the story and wondered how it would translate to a US settling and into a shortened version. I also wondered whether I would be gripped as I already knew who the bad guys were. I need not have worried. It was a geat story and this movie more than does it justice.

Report as inappropriate
Madison said...

Posted on Apr 26 2009 18:33 Crowe totally inhabits his character as you'd expect, but the newsroom scenes feel a bit cliched (the Wire did it better). 6 stars for Russell's acting ******

Report as inappropriate
ARCHGATE said...

Posted on Apr 24 2009 20:43 Crowe is very good in this film. Unfortunately the other main leads - Mirren and McAdams are totally miscast. The man from the "Orange Wednesdays" is more convincing than these two. The film rocks at certain points and sometimes it rolls. But it never rock and rolls at the same time. Shame really, cos I quite liked it.

Report as inappropriate
Girish said...

Posted on Apr 24 2009 15:43 Russel has acted brilliantly. Plain and good narration.

Report as inappropriate
usman khawaja said...

Posted on Apr 24 2009 01:30 an absolutely predictable predicament -where you know the final twist after the first ten minutes and pray you are wrong but then hollywood rarely disappoints you when it comes to it's cliche ridden ,illogical political conspiracy thrillers which seem to be getting more banal and smothered in moralist muddle just like the confused portrayal of a newspaper editor by helen mirren who provides one of the worst caricatures of a high profile ,quizzical and abusive news paper head trying to mimic judi dench in a really odious turn and CROWE is really hialriously bad as a dustin hoffman spoof from POLLACK'S ALL THE PRESIDENT MEN -
i wish they had conceived a basic plot before casting the whole absurdist cospiracy cacophony which fails to entertain or educate in any way despite it's hugely ambitious cast and credits -AVOID this STATE OF ART ATROCITY FROM AMERICA

Report as inappropriate
Bill Roberts said...

Posted on Apr 23 2009 10:49 What a desperate disappointment considering the heritage of the subject and the great tv series. Weak direction and a very poor script which would have been unlikely to pass through the creative portals of the better script editing departments of the major US television networks, whose best work this very weak film illuminates. Tosh.

Report as inappropriate