Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams
Handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are ...( read more
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DVD Release Date: September 1, 2009
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Stats: 7,155 reviews
Flixster Reviews (7,155)
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November 15, 2009Slick and professional but feels very dated. A powerhouse cast go through the motions but I felt it had too much of the original's feel and it didn't really embrace modern developments like blogging.
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November 3, 2009A fun, engaging and expertly-made thriller that'll evaporate from your higher thought processes as soon as you're done with it. You couldn't exactly call State of Play ambitious, but it's intelligently written and directed, and understands that thematic depth and action are not m...( read more)
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October 28, 2009"State of Play" is not subtle: be kind to your fellow newspaper. Forget the juicy blog entries - let the news be kept to the journalists who'll go above and beyond. It's a noble message, indeed, with the recent recession in newspaper sales, and as a love-letter to print it's pret...( read more)
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October 12, 2009State of Play is a rather smart thriller ruined by a stupid ending. As is the case with so many thrillers nowadays, there seems to be this need to have twist upon twist upon twist, It's not enough to have one twist anymore. The film has to go int one direction, turn into anoth...( read more)
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October 5, 2009While I'm always annoyed a bit at movies which portray the press (especially newspapers) as so noble and important, there have been a few that I've really enjoyed (The Paper jumps to mind). Often it's all contingent on the cast. Originally this was to have starred Brad P...( read more)
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November 12, 2009well acted, nice characters, pretty good but not overwhelmingly interesting plot line. all in all pretty good.
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Critic Reviews
April 17, 2009
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
April 17, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
State of Play does get a little creaky in its last third -- at that point it needs to be more streamlined, more concise. But Macdonald and the screenwriters manage to weave their ideas through a sturd... full review
April 17, 2009
Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com
Explosive political thriller with a top-notch cast keeps you in its grip all the way. Russell Crowe's best performance since "A Beautiful Mind". full review
April 17, 2009
A.O. Scott, The New York Times
The chance to explore the swiftly changing culture of Web-age journalism is one of several intriguing possibilities that State of Play squanders. full review
April 16, 2009
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
A busy thriller that moves between the worlds of newspapers and politics, Kevin Macdonald's State of Play zips along smoothly. full review
April 16, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today
Though it is a well-crafted political thriller, State of Play may actually have more to say about the beleaguered state of print journalism than about governmental shenanigans. full review
April 16, 2009
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
A solidly constructed thriller that recalls the paranoid conspiracies of the 1970s. full review
April 16, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
A smart, ingenious thriller set in the halls of Congress and the city room of a newspaper not unlike the Washington Post. full review
April 15, 2009
Armond White, The New York Press
If instances of dishonesty, cover-ups and heroic loners seem at all surprising, then you haven't watched TV in the past 30 years -- or the BBC series where State of Play originated. full review
Comments
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March 16, 2009Oscar® winner Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast in a blistering thriller about a rising congressman and an investigative journalist embroiled in an case of seemingly unrelated, brutal murders. Crowe plays D.C. reporter Cal McAffrey, whose street smarts lead him to untangle a mystery of murder and collusion among some of the nation's most promising political and corporate figures in "State of Play," from acclaimed director Kevin Macdonald ("The Last King of Scotland").
Handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party's contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets come tumbling out.
McAffrey has the dubious fortune of both an old friendship with Collins and a ruthless editor, Cameron (Oscar® winner Helen Mirren), who has assigned him to investigate. As he and partner Della (Rachel McAdams) try to uncover the killer's identity, McAffrey steps into a cover-up that threatens to shake the nation's power structures. And in a town of spin-doctors and wealthy politicos, he will discover one truth: when billions are at stake, no one's integrity, love or life is ever safe.
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