State of Play

I recently saw State of Play with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachael McAdams and Helen Mirren. It was in theaters briefly last year and got good reviews, but disappeared all too quickly. Apparently adult dramas are out of vogue and The Transformers are in.

It's a Watergate style whodunit complete with a murdered female staffer, the earnest young senator who is having an affair with her (Affleck) and an old style journalist who finds himself with a hot story and a potential conflict of interest. Russell Crowe is Cal McAffrey a cynical wisecracking reporter for the Washington Mirror (read Post) who happens to be the former college roommate of Senator Stephen Collins. Paunchy and disheveled, McAffrey is kicking it old school, with in depth reporting, a network of carefully cultivated police contacts and stories written on his twelve year old computer. He has little use for his young colleague, Della Frye (is that a great name or what?) played by McAdams. She writes the online blog for the newspaper and is trolling for the story of the minute. The always fabulous Helen Mirren is Cameron Lynne, the hard as nails managing editor trying to balance journalistic integrity with making a buck to keep the paper alive.

The story begins when two people are inexplicably shot in an alley, one of them, a pizza delivery guy who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The next day a young staffer working for Senator Collins is killed when she falls in front of a subway. Initially it appears to be an accident, but of course, it's murder. McAffrey sees a conspiracy and starts investigating and Frye is more interested in writing about the rumors that the Senator was having an affair with the staffer. In the end they join forces to uncover the truth, but they find their lives in danger as they are pulled into a maelstrom of deceit and power politics played out in the back rooms and bedrooms of DC.

McAffrey is no superhero, but an every man kind of character. Just like Bob Woodward (Redford) in All the President's Men, who finds himself alone and terrified in an underground parking garage, McAffrey inadvertently stumbles onto the man responsible for the murders. He does what any one of us would do and runs, just like Woodward did in the movie. He manages to escape using his wits, but he has no desire to take on the killer. Della Frye starts out a bit perky for my taste, but in the end shows her mettle and wins McAffrey's respect. The debate between the two of what constitutes news in these times is relevant and thought provoking. The Senator is handsome, ambitious and seemingly vacuous, until you see beneath the facade that he is formidable and kind of scary.

This movie kept my interest throughout and it has a nice twist at the end, so just when you think you have it all figured out, think again. Eat your heart out, Transformers.