State of Play
a review
Zachary Parker
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: Freestyle
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acclaimed six-part drama written by Paul Abbott, but now Hollywood has seen fit to remake the 2003 version for the big screen audience. Director Kevin Macdonald, with films like Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void on his resume, helms the film, one almost mourning the slow death of truthful journalism and noble politics.
Of course, the latter two have hardly ever consistently acted truthful or noble. With this in mind, Macdonald's State of Play recognizes the hunger of the media and public alike for sensationalist news, shown here as the reveal of an affair between Rep. Stephen Collins (another convincing performance from a growing Ben Affleck) and his committee's lead researcher, Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer) after she commits suicide in the metro.
While celebrity politicians have affairs and their assistants commit suicide, Washington Globe journalist, Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) plunges the entirety of his energy into inspecting the murder of a man plus pizza boy in the tunnel.
Despite the attitude of the rest of the world and his concerned-for-profit editor, Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren), Cal McAffrey sets himself apart as a journalist hungry for the truth and the Cheetos he munches instead of smoking.
Crowe's Cal McAffrey trades muscle for paunch, but tackles his pursuits with an unstoppable aggression, making the bearded slob a more believable lead than the Hoffman,Redford, Downey Jr. types we've seen previously in the cinema's newsroom.
Even though he's seeing the man's wife, Anne (Robin Wright Penn), Cal begins to cultivate an interest in the Collins affair when Stephen, previously his college roommate,knocks on Cal's door, begging for refuge. It doesn't take long before the story conveniently lets us (and Cal) know that both stories are related: "It's as big and connected as they get."
The story and some of the dialogue (as stated previously) play down to the audience when they shouldn't, but this is mostly forgivable in that what's compacted and abridged for the film version wraps up rather cogently.
We know early on who the murderer is and we're privy to the methods taken by the under-villains, but we're still left guessing who is the primary perpetrator behind this conspiracy thriller.
That desire to know "why" is what maintains
the suspense throughout the film, even though some elements leave its ending somewhat stale and forgettable. The romantic relationship between Cal and Anne is deplorably petite, and the friendship between Cal and Stephen is perhaps too much to believe without more established knowledge.
Stephen's committee is endeavoring to stop a bid by a massive, private security company named PointCorps, which would effectively take over what we know as Homeland Security. While the film is not afraid of showing its political interests, State of Play is just as concerned with the way greed (whether for money or power) is destroying print journalism, and the human relationships in our lives too.
Like the original BBC version, Macdonald's
State of Play is well-cast with superb little performances from Jason Bateman as PointCorps PR specialist and Jeff Daniels as Senator George Fergus. Other actors, such as Viola Davis, Michael Weston, and even Rachel McAdams as ditzy blogger, Della Frye, suffer and provide little other than humor and exposition.
The film's exposition works best when characters review theories behind the conspiracy, but the film has too little heart to give the film's important perspectives on politics, journalism, and depravity the emotional impact it needs.
State of Play shows off its actors, its cute dialogue, and a twist-filled plot, and while I'm glad to have seen it and encourage you to do so too, I wonder if Hollywood is guilty of the same greed by adding this film to its ever-growing catalogue of remakes.
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