âState of Playâ may be based on a fictional BBC miniseries, but in its translation from Britain in 2003 to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the star-driven feature tackles realistic themes about todayâs troubled newspaper business and corrupt American political system.
While the charismatic likes of Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren keep the entertainment value high, meaningful ideas surface about the extinction of investigative print journalism, its replacement with superficial blogging and the effect this trend will have on unearthing dangerous conflicts of interest between greedy corporate entities and our elected officials.
Sensational plot maneuverings connect the murder of a purse snatcher in Georgetown and a congressional aide on the Metro with the fate of crusading young Congressman Stephen Collins (Affleck) and the conspiratorial military contractor he seeks to restrain (imagine an even scarier Halliburton or Blackwater).
Crowe plays Cal McAffrey, a seasoned beat reporter at an antiquated broadsheet paper-of-record called The Washington Globe. Heâs the first to find proof of a nexus between the killings and his old college roommate Stephen. His reluctant, pragmatic editor (Mirren) allows rookie Internet writer Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) to assist the personally invested Cal as the story expands. It soon includes more casualties and an unsettling underground garage sequence that pays tribute to the ultimate classic D.C. newspaper movie, âAll the Presidentâs Men.â
The stakes are high. Sadly, though, thereâs no figure as compelling as Nixon or Deep Throat.
The narrativeâs melodramatic twists may have seemed more rational over the course of the originalâs six-hour running time. But they give this two-hour screenplay (credited to three different writers) the tone of a Hollywood potboiler. Fortunately, tense direction by Kevin Macdonald (2006âs âLast King of Scotlandâ) and a credible cast â also including Robin Wright Penn as Stephenâs wife/Calâs former lover, Jason Bateman as a sleazy publicist and Jeff Daniels as the shady majority whip â heighten the potency of the material.
You can see that the actors have taken stock characters and breathed specificity into them through their performances. Crowe, in particular, is always so interesting to watch â even in an unexceptional picture. The D.C. area is an attractive co-star here, too. Benâs Chili Bowl, the Kennedy Center, Chinatown, Crystal City, the Maine Avenue fish market and other hot spots make cameo appearances.
Itâs a âState of Playâ that only plays with Washington culture and big ideas.
