Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.
State of Play is a competent, well-crafted political thriller that benefits enormously from a strong ensemble cast — Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, and Jason Bateman all deliver solid-to-excellent performances that elevate fairly standard material. The plot is engaging and reasonably twisty but ultimately follows a familiar investigative journalism template (clearly adapted from the acclaimed BBC miniseries), losing some complexity in the compression to feature length. Cinematography is functional and atmospheric for Washington D.C. but unremarkable. Novelty suffers as the film is a remake of a beloved TV serial and treads well-worn conspiracy-thriller ground. The ending has a satisfying reveal but feels slightly rushed and conventional for the genre.