State of Play

There was a time when this movie was incredibly high on my radar. At that time, Tony Gilroy was the screen writer and Brad Pitt was the star. The strike happened, Pitt dropped and two other people took Gilroy's script and went over it. Russell Crowe came on board to save the movie, but my excitement was gone. I have nothing against Crowe or the new writers, Billy Ray and Michael Matthew Carnahan. In fact, Carnahan and Ray have both written movies I have liked with Carnahan having written The Kingdom and Lions for Lambs and Bill Ray having written and directed Breach and Shattered Glass. However, they are not Tony Gilroy and I worry any time a movie have rewrites. Yet, it had some things going for it, namely Helen Mirren and Rachel McAdams and it had a story that I thought would be interesting.

Cal McAffrey(Crowe), with his unkempt hair, spare tire gut and messy car is the newspaper writer who believes int eh power of the written word. He is an intelligent investigative journalist with a disdain for blogs and on-line journalism. When he meets the paper's new blogger, Della Frye(McAdams) Cal is smug, condescending and rude. He is an old timer stuck in the old days. He has recently started writing a column on a shooting in which two men were shot by a professional killer. At the same time, a young woman is killed in a subway station. The young woman was working for Senator Stephen Collins(Ben Affleck) and it comes out that Collins and her were having an affair. McAffrey and Collins were college roommates and friends and soon McAffrey finds himself in the middle of a whole different story. Collins is currently chairing a senate hearing on a Private army that may be using illegal tactics and Cal is out to find everything he can that may help his friend and make the right story.

Russell Crowe has always been a better actor when he gets to get his hands dirty. When he is not concerned with image or concerned with playing someone who actually existed, Crowe is a master. He belongs in movies like this. He has been a leading man, but he never should have been. He is supposed to be a middle aged man with crazy hair and a bit of a gut. He is a character actor trapped in a leading man's brain. In this movie he is wonderful. At times funny, at times serious, but always invested in the story, Crowe turns this movie into a great thriller because of his cagey personality as Cal. Everyone else follows suit. Rachel McAdams gladly gives Cal the screen, but she stands up when she needs to. She really gets across Della's willingness to learn and to get better. Then you have Ben Affleck, another actor who is better suited for character roles. As Senator Collins, Affleck is tight and pulled together and gives away nothing until he absolutely has to. Affleck is going to have a much longer career as a supporting player and I think he is learning that. Then you have the lovely, sexy and charming Helen Mirren. Clad in tight sweaters, the ageless beauty is a fire cracker as the head of the paper.

Besides great performances, the film also works from a directorial stand point. The camera work is top notch, although may disorient people. The camera is not crazy shaky, save for the really disorienting opening, but the camera is not exactly stationary, either. What it amounts to is a camera that is bobbing up and down, not exactly like a first person P.O.V camera, but is bobs enough to give it the impression that the camera is not supposed to be there, or that we should not be seeing what we are seeing. The action is most effective in the parking garage, chase, but parking garage chases are always effective. What makes this one so much more effective is that Cal is running from a military man, which means Cal has no way of fighting back. he is truly just hiding to stay alive. The movie also takes time to build the story. It is never slow and boring, but it lets us breathe and gives us a chance to figure out what is going on.

Kevin McDonald, the director, has solved his problems from his last movie, The Last King of Scotland. The Last King of Scotland was muddled and edited so chopped up that it was not a coherent movie. This film aims to be a bit confusing, but it is never incoherent. This is made very clear by one scene in particular. Cal and Della have a key witness, played by Jason Bateman, in a motel and the scene is played in that moment, then played in the past through a television, and then it moves back to watching it as it happened, but played from the past. It makes sense in the moment and it actually works as a interesting story telling device. Plus, Bateman in his one scene knocks it out of the park. he is hilarious, scary and then in the most serious moment of his career, incredible at telling a serious story void of his usual snide comments. It is not only a very key moment in the story, it is done in an interesting way so it is not just some interrogation.

State of Play is the kind of thriller that will keep you wondering what is going on and it does throw a twist at the end, because that is what these movies do. I could have done without the romantic angle of Cal and the one that got away, but I am sure for some people it will add an element. It is good story telling, telling an interesting story and it finds time to lament the end of newspaper journalism in favor of gossip and unsubstantiated blogging. The acting is strong and the directing is interesting and effective. This is a nice pre-summer movie. It gives you something to chew on and takes you on a journey that is intense and interesting. It is hard to get mad at that.