20th November 2009

I get very excited when I see a movie with a cast of so many Hollywood 'heavy-weights'. State of Play (2009) has some of this eras best actors in it: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, Jeff Daniels, Viola Davis...it's just amazing. Okay, so political thrillers aren't really my thing, and I must admit, I found this a little boring from time to time, but the rest was surprisingly enjoyable. It follows Cal McAffrey (Crowe), a journalist who gets a big shot at a good story about the death of one of his friends colleagues. The story is one about scandal, a congressman, Stephen Collins (Affleck), had an affair with Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer) who was killed at a train station. He was still married to Anne (Wright Penn), who was secretly having an affair with Cal. Sound confusing? Well, this story expands in to a huge problem, and Cal is repeatedly followed by a gun-man, and the deadline is pushed back many times to the newspaper editors (Mirren) dismay. Cal works day and night, with rookie Della Frye (McAdams) to get this story surfaced, but Cal must remember his friendship with Stephen Collins, and he has to try and save his own life. Apart from the story being a tad confusing at times, I witnessed so many great performances. Rachel McAdams was a particular stand-out for me, because I last saw her in Mean Girls, where she was playing a stereotypical teenage bitch. However, in this, she showed that she is ready to stand on dramatic ground, and pick up a few Oscar nominations on the way. Also, I almost forgot that Ben Affleck was last in 'He's Just Not That Into You', because he showed those acting chops which we have been seeing too little of lately. Kevin MacDonald did a good job directing it, making it look spooky and dark right throughout, fitting the genre. State of Play was great, and a must-see for fans of political thrillers.
8/10