Movie Review: State of Play

I enjoy movies revolving around political cover-ups and murder as much as I hope 24 will one day become believable again.  The point is I like them...a lot.  I truly believe JFK was killed by some government coup and I think most of the press doesn't have a clue what really goes on in politics.  State of Play, having the all-star cast of Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels, had a lot of expectations to live up to with this story.  Was this going to be the next All the President's Men?  Was this the movie version of 24?  Would this movie single handily save America's newspapers?  The answer to all of those questions are a simple No, but the movie wasn't all bad, just not as great as I hoped or thought it would be.

While plenty will find this movie enjoyable (me included), I couldn't get past the fact that State of Play wasted a lot of great talent in a movie with a catchy story but an unoriginal ending.   The story quickly starts with the murder of a bum in a dark rainy alley somewhere in the District of Columbia.  Happens every day, right?  Not this way.  Seasoned newspaper reporter Cal McAffrey (Crowe) arrives on the scene the following morning and we soon learn that Cal knows his job and does it well.  Shortly after Cal investigates that corpse another body bag is ordered when it's discovered that Congressman Stephen Collins's (Affleck) staffer/sexual liaison Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer) has died on the Metro tracks.  Was it murder?  Was it suicide?  Okay, it's murder, since the trailers point that out.  But, more interestingly it turns out that Congressman Collins just happens to be the longtime friend of reporter McAffrey.  Is it possible for a reporter and politician to be friends?  State of Play proves that it's tenuous at best.  Immediately, Cal tries to help his buddy push back the attack dogs in the press, including blogger Della Frye (McAdams) and in doing so attempts to uncover what really happened with Sonia's death.  

While State of Play definitely packs plenty of suspense and plot twists keeping audience members on the edge of their seats, I just couldn't help but feel it missed its mark.  Was the movie trying to prove that newspapers are worth saving?  That all politicians lie and manipulate?  That bloggers aren't real reporters until they work under a "real" one (not that I am even implying I'm a reporter)?  I know this review has many questions, but it's how the movie left me.  While I enjoyed the acting overall, there were pieces of the movie that just didn't fit and left the story very unbalanced and awkward at times.   On one hand you had a cold blooded assassin (Michael Berresse) and on the other a very odd and funny but a completely misplaced character in Dominic Foy (Bateman).  Ultimately, maybe it was the ending that doomed the movie for me.  I truly wanted some very complex, deep rooted conclusion to the film, but I think I get used to the constant cover-ups, moles and corrupt officials in 24 to realize that just isn't reality...or is it?  While I felt State of Play had the right idea, and was mostly enjoyable, just don't go in expecting the best political thriller of the decade.  Sure the acting is good by most and the story is interesting, but the ending will let you down and will force you to realize the story was decent, at best.  So, for this decent but not great movie, I give State of Play a maybe-too-lofty Spork Rating of:

Rated PG-13

Runtime 127 min

Open nationwide