MOVIE REVIEW - State Of Play

It's an all-star cast in State Of Play that opened up over the weekend. Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel MacAdams, and many others star in this government cover-up thriller.

SOP is the story of Cal (Crowe) who is a seasoned old school newspaper reporter for the Washington Globe. He finds himself teamed up with Della (MacAdams) who is a young upstart blogger for the paper's online division. Together, with their obvious differences, are teamed up to investigate a murder at the highest level of our federal government. Who is involved? Who is the bad guy? Good guy?

This movie may look like you've seen it before, and you have. But there is something fresh about SOP that is hard to resist. It does keep you guessing for the most part, and you have to swallow the fact that this is a cynical look at the state of Washington D.C. today. Who is really the sleaziest? Is it the people we elect to federal positions? Is it the failing newspaper and it's reporters? Is it the defense contractors? Is it the Feds in general? Well according to SOP, they all are. And to be honest, that is the movies focal point. All of the above are equal opportunity offenders. In fact, there's enough sleaze to go around and back again. You may feel the need to shower it off when you get home.

Russell Crowe again is really strong in this commanding role, And MacAdams is a great, new fresh face that I have loved in everything she's done. Affleck is also great in his sleazy role as the elected official in question, Representative Steven Collins. A small, but pivotal role, he is really good here. Again with Affleck, I think less of him is more. I've not enjoyed him in too many leading roles, but love him on the side. Toss in Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels and Robin Wright- Penn too as side dishes, and you've got a star-studded cast that makes SOP a real winner.

State Of Play is just flat out good movie making, and is time and money well spent. It also has the look of a possible series of movies, as suggested subtly at the movies end. It is based on a BBC Series, so we'll have to wait and see.

But don't wait to see State Of Play, get there soon.