You would think that after Ivies, I would have had enough excitement to last me until the Fourth of July. While listening to Sean Kingston shout "Put your hands up!" over recordings of his songs was exhilarating, I found myself craving just a few more thrills before settling down to the grind of classes and homework.
Thus, at precisely 6:55 p.m. on Sunday evening, my roommate and I decided to postpone our mountain of homework for another two hours and go see the 7 o'clock showing of "State of Play" instead. The movie, starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck, proved to be thrilling enough to make up for Sean Kingston's performance.
"State of Play" is a political thriller centering on the death of a young political aide, Sonya Baker. Baker was the lead researcher for a committee headed by Senator Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). Collins, a former soldier, is the young star of the Democratic Party and is in charge of the committee investigating the practices of private defense companies deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and domestically. Sonya dies the morning the committee is supposed to open. Collins, revealing his aide's death, is so overcome with emotion that the media immediately goes into a frenzy speculating—or rather, declaring—that Collins and Baker were doing a little more than researching.
Meanwhile, Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), the star journalist for the sinking Washington Globe, is investigating the murders of two young men. McAffrey is an old-school reporter with a computer that looks like it belongs in a historical documentary, not a newsroom. McAffrey was Collins' college roommate, and they have kept in touch over the years. Determined not to let this media storm hurt Collins' wife, Anne, McAffrey decides to help Collins discover the truth about Sonya's death.
Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), on the other hand, is a reporter cast more in a modern mold. Della works on the online side of things writing a political blog, but she's quite nave when it comes to real reporting. Thrown together with Cal on the assignment to figure out exactly what happened, Della gets a rude awakening about the rules in real reporting, which include bending the law when you need to.
And so, Della and Cal get tangled more and more in the political and corporate web woven around them as they try to figure out who knew Sonya Baker and who would have wanted to kill her. Cal is also trying to balance his relationships with Stephen and Anne Collins with his need for a scoop as a journalist. Plus, he has a rather frightening Helen Mirren on his back as the Globe's editor, who is trying to keep a sinking newspaper afloat.
The movie is based on a BBC television series of the same name. Its British origins are apparent as the movie is rather smart and well-written. It doesn't try too hard and go for the long chase scenes and big shootouts that we expect in American thrillers. The movie was engrossing and kept my attention for the entire two hours, which, considering that I had a pretty long weekend and a rather painful sunburn, is quite a feat.
However, while the plot was interesting, some of the chemistry between the characters was lacking. I didn't find the relationship between Collins and McAffrey believable, probably because I knew that Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe would not have been college roommates. Also, I never had any sympathy for Collins, even though his marriage was falling apart and his mistress had just been killed. Maybe it's because he was a politician and I have an inherent distrust of politicians, or maybe it's because Affleck played the part with a cold and calculating demeanor.
All in all, however, "State of Play" is good entertainment. Watching the trailer, you expect the movie to ask some hard questions about politics, journalism, and corporate corruption, but it doesn't really delve into these issues to make a real statement. Instead, you leave the theater feeling glad that you live in rural Maine, where the greatest threat to your life is a moose crossing the highway.