The Press Can Spin This ANyway They Want

State of Play

2009, dir. Kevin MacDonald
Stars Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, Robin Wright Penn, Harry Lennix, Viola Davis
2 hours 7 minutes

State of Play is the new film from director Kevin MacDonald, director of The Last King of Scotland, and grandson of Emeric Pressburger. The film depicts the investigation by both the police and the press into the death of a young woman on a subway platform.

Russell Crowe plays a seasoned journalist investigating a separate double homicide, which he eventually, and perhaps inevitably, links to the young woman. Rachel McAdams plays Crowe’s younger colleague, and Helen Mirren plays their editor-in-chief. Ben Affleck plays a Congressman and boss to the young woman, who just happens to be Crowe’s old college roommate.

The film is a condensed version the BBC mini-series from 2004, with 6 hours worth of story crammed into 2 hours. I thought the film was fairly clever in all of its twists (even the ones there were obvious 20 minutes ahead of time), but, like last month’s Duplicity, the story was done in by the last, unnecessary twists that after further thought, really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and certainly complicates matters from a legal perspective.

Overall, a decent thriller with one too many plot turns, though I am really curious to check out the original mini-series.

3 ½ stars

Saw with Steph and Paddy at Silvercity.