State of Play

I'm a big fan of the British television series, State of Play, upon which the film is based. The film largely quotes the plot elements of the series, but a 2.5-hour distillation of a 6-hour miniseries won't allow for much more than that. The result is a slightly better than mediocre film that's a little too muddled and complex to be successful.

The film moves the location from London to Washington, D.C., but the key elements of a congressman (Ben Affleck) caught in a sex scandal while investigating an energy company. Think Gary Hart meets Halliburton, if you're not too old or too young for those references. The catalyst for the plot is the death of Congressman Steve Collins' assistant. The subsequent investigation by reporters from the Washington Globe (Russell Crow and Heather McAdams) drives the plot.

The film has a timely feel. The fading state of newspapers and the public feeling about war profiteers gives State of Play some emotional heft. Making McAdams' character a political gossip blogger feels a little cheap, however.

The acting is ho hum until quite late when Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels get a bit of screen time. Helen Mirren is largely wasted as the newspaper editor of the Globe.

State of Play has enough plot twists to keep it interesting, but it never rises much beyond that.