Mini-Review: State of Play

State of Play
Directed by Kevin Macdonald
Released April 17, 2009 (USA) / April 30, 2009 (Italy)

This dramatic thriller from the director of “The Last King of Scotland” is a decent, engaging mystery with a cast of talented actors giving so-so performances. There’s nothing I can find inherently wrong with it, but the feeling I left with was not one of satisfaction. Russell Crowe is an able actor whose bad-boy reputation has left reviewers and audiences touting his skills. Here he’s not putting in much effort, and it’s not terribly distracting because this isn’t a role that demands much. The same goes for Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren, both of whom have great potential, one of whom will get a chance to show it in the future and the other who has demonstrated it clearly in the past. Ben Affleck is the real dud in this flick, trying to over-enunciate his words and overplay his emotions, and his overexertion of effort shows. The real problem with the film isn’t the mediocre adequacy of its performers or the lack of excitement in the script. From what I’ve read, the film has been touted mainly for two reasons. It’s based on a highly acclaimed 2003 BBC miniseries, which I imagine had more room to flesh out the characters and the plot in a more dramatically compelling manner. Twists that seemed irrelevant or odd were probably foreshadowed and more explained in the episodes of the miniseries, and the lack of hype or buzz probably allowed for a less famous but more skilled cast. The second major factor that earned “State of Play” good words is its function as a fitting tribute and swan song for print journalism. It may be an important movie because Crowe’s character insults the legitimacy of blogs and then proves his way of doing things is more effective, but that doesn’t make it a good movie. There was a lot of pressure on this film to be good, as a remake of a great miniseries and a death knell for the dying world of journalism. It’s an okay effort, but there’s not much that makes it stand out from other films.

C+