Film Review: State of Play

New thriller refreshes an old formula

State of Play is satisfying. Thrillers are usually a dime a dozen, as they say, so it’s unique that a big-budget Hollywood thriller is actually, well, thrilling.
Russell Crowe plays protagonist Cal McAffrey, a journalist who traces a homicide to a high-level political murder that his former roommate, the now-Senator Stephen Collins, is falsely accused of being tied up in. It’s the kind of thing we’ve all seen before, but State of Play is a refreshing variation on the familiar theme. There’s nothing new under the sun anyway; if you want originality, go watch performance artists throw ketchup on themselves.
Crowe plays his character as a weathered veteran who still has passion for his job. McAffrey is the best thing about the movie, and his performance holds the film together. His character is relatable, the kind of person I would love to have coffee with some time.
The strange thing about this film is that it’’s entirely formulaic, but it still works. It has the usual twists, the quick techno/strings music, those late epiphanies that thrust the plot forward, and that new reporter who just happens to be covering the same story as McAffrey—and is drop dead gorgeous.
The thing that makes the formula work is the right combination of all the ingredients. Director Kevin Macdonald knows how to manipulate all the trite aspects and come up with something that thrills us because we care about the characters, not because it has car chases.
The film also asks some meta-questions about the nature of journalism and the ethics behind it. McAffrey wrestles with his loyalty to Collins and his integrity as a journalist to report the truth. The film is able to include conflicts with more substance without preaching at us. More importantly, it’s able to show us how complicated human nature really is.

Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams in State Of Play.

Our recent guest Sasha Frere-Jones said that we should judge a piece of art by what it is trying to do. State of Play isn’t All the President’s Men, but it shouldn’t have to be. It succeeded at what it set out to do because for two hours I was actually in Washington D.C. with Russell Crowe, trying to crack the same case with just as much self-investment.