State of Play

Maybe some of you will believe me when I say that I decided to give this movie a try because one actress. Yes, Helen Mirren is in this movie and even if she’s not in the screen a long time, her performance is absolutely great; which obviously make this movie worth watching. But have to admit that even when the story seems like great advertisement for print newspapers -against online press- it is entertaining and tense/thrilling at moments.

Basically the movie is about two characters, reporter Cal McAffey (Russell Crowe) and Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) who are friends since college and “use” each other thanks to past issues that make them vulnerable. But the main issue is that Cal slept with Stephen wife (Robin Wright Penn) and he feels guilty and easily agrees to help Cal when his lover Sonia is killed. That’s an easy way to describe what happens in this movie, but the plot is complex and thickens fast with many twists and the unveiling of Corporate America greed, this time hitting companies that are outsourcing suppliers for the Defense Department.

Performance by Crowe is acceptable and have to say that this is the perfect role for Affleck as the character was supposed to be stiff and Affleck’s performances are predominantly stiff. Female actors have secondary roles as this is a “boys movie”, but as I mentioned Helen Mirren has a very strong performance and screen presence.

I agree with those that mention that this film seems like a good old fashion entertaining American cinema as definitively has the style of movies by Alan Pakula like All The Presidents Men; so if you enjoyed that era of good entertaining movies then you will definitively will enjoy this one.

I do recommend this movie for entertainment purposes and to catch a glimpse of Helen Mirren always excellent performances.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion