Adapted from the 2003 BBC mini series, State Of Play is a thriller that has the audience playing catch up from the off: A guy with a briefcase puts a bullet in a junkie before shooting a pizza delivery boy who witnessed the murder, placing him in critical condition in the hospital. The next morning, the assistant to Congressman Stephen Collins (Affleck) allegedly commits suicide by throwing herself in front on an oncoming subway train. The Washington Globe's investigative reporter Cal McAffrey (Crowe) smells a rat and, with the help of ambitious rookie reporter Della Frye (McAdams), finds that the clues lead to Collins's investigation of military contracts - a multi-billion enterprise. Complicating matters further; Cal is a former buddy of Collins and still a buddy of his wife (Robin Wright-Penn). Is there a conspiracy?
Yes, is the short answer - there wouldn't be a movie if there wasn't one. Nor can there be a thriller without a twist. Although the twist here isn't without its merits; there's no gush, no 'wow' to it and maybe that's because it's expected, which kind of diminishes the twist. Ditto for the performances: Crowe is expected to be driven and manly, which he is; Affleck is expected to be sincere but dopey, which he is; McAdams is expected to be determined but naive, which she is; and Mirren's English newspaper editor is expected to be really English and - with liberal use of 'bloody', 'geezer', 'wanker' and 'bugger off' - she is. Even though we get what we expect from the players, that does not take away from their solid contributions. What wasn't expected is Jeff Daniels turning his nicey-nice screen persona on its head with icy cold Senator, and Jason Bateman graduating to 'serious acting' with his shifty and cowardly PR playboy.
"Corporate conspiracies that reach the highest levels - I've only seen that on TV," says one character in this very wordy thriller, which might be a nod to its parental TV series, but could also be a wink to the TV drama machinations that play out here. Very much in love with the paranoia thrillers of Frankenhemier, and Pakula thrillers of the '70s, the affection is from afar; there's not a lot here to elevate above its small screen beginnings. This could be a half-hour episode with a stellar cast. Lurking beneath the complicated plot is the comment that broadsheet newspapers are the last refuge of real news and the Johnny-come-lately that is the Internet is making a mockery of intelligent information (Cal dismisses Della's blog as nonsense - boo to you, Cal!).
Although it's a pretty solid thriller that obeys all the rules, State Of Play can be accused of functionality too.
