Todd McCarthy
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In the end, though, it's Crowe who must carry the most freight, which he does with another characterization to relish. Still bulky, although not as much so as in "Body of Lies," long-tressed and somewhat grizzled, he finds the gist of the affable eccentricity, natural obsessiveness and mainstream contrarianism that marks many professional journalists.
Dana Stevens
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After a bracing first hour, State of Play defaults on the most basic promise of the conspiracy thriller. Instead of luring us down an ever-darker and twistier path, it strands us in a tedious and ill-designed maze.
John H
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Maddening Movie Alert Ouch. This may be one of the most memorable cinematic shooting-yourself-in-the-foot exercises of all time !! Here is a powerful, savvy, entertaining and insightful film that is decidedly disturbing in the entirely believable and timely political material it presents. but which self-destructively dissolves into storytelling and thematic gibberish in its climatic final ten minutes !! How could such a brilliantly directed film that never puts a foot wrong, that grabs hold of you from the get-go and consistently displays a sureness of touch and truly impressive mastery of the film medium (that keeps you on the edge of your seat as the saying goes).self-destruct so irrevocably in its closing scenes and implodes to the point that the audience leaves the theatre in a State of Puzzlement ? How could the terrific movie they have been glued to for the past two hours suddenly vanish into thin air ?? The cast here is nothing short of inspired, the direction is pretty much flawless, the script keeps building in suspense and entirely credible intrigue- you are kept totally immensely in this very savvy movie and eagerly anticipating further developments .when all at once one of the most superb production of Macbeth that you have ever seen (the armies on the move in Birnam Wood and Macbeth boasting to MacDuff that he need fear no man of woman born ) morphs into a production of The Man Who Came to Dinner starring Monty Woolley, the closing scenes of "Night of the Iguana", "Knock on Wood", "The Philidelphia Story" or any play or movie you care to name !! We go from Genius to Gibberish to ten seconds flat. Call it Script Writer Over-reach, Narrative Meltdown or Storytelling Hubris but the end result is that the audience files out of the cinema scratching its head and more than a little deflated/mystified and (yes) grieved by this calamitous turn of events, for its as though someone had just smashed a meticulously crafted and beloved ornament with a baseball bat. In its final scenes the film shoots itself in the foot with such ferocity and comes unglued in its narrative and storytelling department on such a grand scale (the word sloppy comes to mind) that it is nothing short of One-For-the-Books. Let me predict that film students generations from now will study State of Play in darkened cinemas amidst not a few groans and disbelieving gasps, frantically jotting down notes as they grapple with the terrible enigma of how such a smart movie could commit so many storytelling blunders so repidly and at such a climatic moment in the film. I further predict that one day seminars in film schools will focus on mentoring aspiring filmmakers on how to anticipate and avoid catastrophic movie climaxes and that these to-be-avoided-at-all-cost pitfalls will officially be known under the umbrella title of State-of-Play Syndrome .OK. Having gotten all this off my chest I must add that I think State of Play is still definitely well worth seeing. Whats regrettable is that it comes so close to being Must See Viewing but fumbles the ball on the five yard line.
Richard Corliss
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The film's director, Kevin Macdonald, who did "The Last King of Scotland," is not a flair fellow. The chase scenes interpolated into this version have no special oomph; the encounters no residual kick. Paging Ridley Scott? Oh, sorry, too late. So there it is: another film that can't compete with a TV show.
Jim F
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The tension in the newsroom in "State of Play" between the traditional print edition and the online-bottom-line present provides an interesting backdrop for this generally taut, well-directed drama, and the tantalizing suggestion of post-9/11 conspiracies within the government is potentially provocative. But, unfortunately, the film doesn't follow through on its promise, and the drama eventually devolves into a denouement that looks like it was fabricated by the "Warren Commission"-like agency in Alan Pakula's "The Parallax View". Also, having Ben Affleck's character's fling with an underage girl punished at the end doesn't work as well if Russell Crowe's character is implicitly hitting on a girl (Rachel McAdams) young enough to be his daughter. So much for high-mindedness.
Elias C
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"State of Play' is an American adaptation of a BBC 6 hour mini-series. Hollywood should have left well enough alone. Although the performances of Crowe and Afleck are very good, This version of 'State of Play' is no 'All the President's Men' which it tries at times to emulate. The film unsuccessfully tries to be an adult political thriller. It fails miserably. There is enough of an interesting plot in tis verion that I want to watch the original BBC production. I can only hope that it does not have the same off-the-wall, illogical, and dumb ending, or if it does, that the explanation and logic behind the ending is more understandable than this lame thriller.
Joe Neumaier
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The result is a paper-thin alliance between the old-school Cal and the new-media Della. Crowe, husky and whisky-voiced, is warm amidst all the plot mechanics, and McAdams, perky and efficient, is a smart foil for him.
Winston L.
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Russell Crowe is on my Oscar-watch.
David Edelstein
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It's tricky, it's surprising, and it's largely faithful to the original mini-series, but in context it's a nonevent. It's like a time bomb that's never dismantled but never explodes. The movie is good enough that the ending leaves you not angry, exactly. Unfulfilled.
James Berardinelli
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There's no question that State of Play feels a little rushed and the density of plot can be daunting, but the resulting tale unfolds with an urgency and sense of verisimilitude that will keep most viewers intrigued and involved without losing many along the way.
Vince M
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Good movie, worth seeing on the silver screen. Russell Crowe is awesome. This story was complex, but they pieced it together pretty darn well. MacAdams is good, too.
judith p
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The New York Post review was pure spittle.Really a zero? SOP is a well made ,well-acted movie ,which apparently made some points that rankled some reviewers.Snark on the internet is a chronic problem.
dustin c
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Good film. Solid performance from Crowe. above aberage overall.
Steve
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Ninety-five percent of this movie is a smart, engrossing, well-acted thriller. I wasn't crazy about how it was shot -- too much washed out color and hand-held camera for this type of story -- but the script was tight and the performances good. Then came the ending. Without giving away what happens, let me just say that it's hard to imagine how a film this big makes it through all the studio execs and test screenings without somebody realizing that the ending simply doesn't make sense. I spent a good amount of time trying to go back through the events and figure out how the various characters knew what they supposedly did, but it doesn't come together. Then I went online and found that it doesn't make sense to anyone else either. It's really too bad, because this could have been a great movie if they'd just left it alone. It didn't even need the extra twist which wound up killing the overall experience.
Manus A
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This was an intriguing political thriller. It's not the Oscar contender it could have been, but still worth seeing. Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, and Rachel McAdams were the key navigators of the plot, and sometimes steal scenes from Mirren and Crowe, who are good as always. Affleck had a weird approach to his character, but is still believable. The twist was intelligent but the movie didn't build enough suspense to reach that twist effectively. This has a marvelous backstory which I want to give away but won't, and is also an example of cliches well-executed and excellent. That said, it could have used some more originality. Without the performances of Penn, Bateman, and McAdams, this probably would have gotten a 6.
Arne C
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Excellent thriller except for the very last twist, which seemed forced. Crow and Mirren shine as always. Affleck is OK.
Joe Morgenstern
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There's simply too much stuff for a two-hour feature, and three writers, including Tony Gilroy, haven't figured out how to boil it down into a readily comprehensible narrative, or how to solve the problem of an ending that goes blah rather than bang.
Brian S
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A surprising gem. Gripping, and a twisting plot that has you engaged the entire time. Better than I thought it would be!
Owen Gleiberman
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Spins a thorny tale of political corruption laced with personal sleaze.
Rick Groen
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Those Hollywood tricksters have managed to shorten the story while slowing the pace -- all of a sudden, minutes are passing like hours.
J. Hoberman
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An effectively involving journalism-cum-conspiracy yarn with a bang-bang opening and a frantic closer.
Shawn Levy
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Until State of Play slips into its small cascade of improbabilities near its end, it proves a thoroughly engaging and professional enterprise.
Stephanie Zacharek
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An intelligent adult thriller about the death of newspapers.
Betsy Sharkey
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Somehow when State of Play should be at its stomach-clenching best, the tension simply evaporates.
Scott Tobias
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Though solidly plotted and executed all around, the film, too, feels like a quaint relic from another era, aping the form of journalistic thrillers like "All The Presidents Men" while missing much of their urgency.
Scott Mendelson
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It is a refreshingly traditional star-driven thriller.
Michael Phillips
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State of Play isn't a kinetic fireball like the second or third "Bourne" installment; like its protagonist, it's defiantly old school, "Three Days of the Condor" bleeding into "All the President's Men."
Carolyn M
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We saw this tonight and thought it was far better than the New York Times gave it credit for. Great performances and dark atmosphere; wonderful photography of iconic DC landmarks taken from angles that make them different from anything you've seen before. See it!
Roger Moore
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As dense as a Watergate-era newspaper and as immediate as a blog, State of Play is an absolutely riveting state-of-the-art "big conspiracy" thriller.
Ann Hornaday
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Features a handsome production and terrific performances.
Dan Jolin
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Once you get over the unlikelihood of Affleck and Crowe as buddies, State Of Play stands as a sterling thriller, benefiting from admirable convictions and an arguable return to form by Russell Crowe.
Rob Calvert
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This is a smart script. There is a wealth of twists, but none of them have to beat you over the head.
Norma S
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It's like they took the original mini-series and accidentally washed it in the pocket of a pair of jeans. Rachel McAdams is operating at her usual old-style-Hollywood level of charisma, but Russell Crowe plays Cal as a cartoon, not as a character. And it may be crass to speak thus of the Queen herself, but I liked Bill Nighey better when he was being played by Bill Nighey, not by a watered-down Helen Mirren. I guess you know you're in trouble when the most convincing acting in a film comes from Ben Affleck. Watch the original mini: this is nothing but Cliff's Notes by comparison.
Lenny M.
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Not a good movie, the story was ok, but the acting was horriable. Russell crowe and bEn should never ever ever do a movie again.
Judith W
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I really enjoyed this movie. What a great pleasure to have a well acted and well written adult film.
Chris Kaltenbach
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Nothing is as it seems in State of Play, a crackerjack political thriller in which no individual, profession or institution gets away clean.
Claudia Puig
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Intelligent and engrossing saga.
Charlie C
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Great political thriller! Keeps you glued to the edge of your seat. Acting was terrific, the plot ever twisting, camera and editing steady. The movie is very timely for it's comments on newspapers. We have relied on the better newspapers for in depth reporting. Will that be lost with profit driven chains and the dominance of the internet??? Would highly recommend the film.
Kimberley Jones
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It neither embarrasses the original, nor is superior to it in any way.
Rich B
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Excellent thriller, that's well acted and fairly easy to follow with quite a few twists and turns that will keep you till the end.
J.R. Jones
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This manages to make the real seem generic, rather than the other way around.
Roger Ebert
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The movie never quite attains altitude. It has a great takeoff, levels nicely, and then seems to land on autopilot. Maybe it's the problem of resolving so much plot in a finite length of time, but it seems a little too facile toward the end.
Judy T
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Okay but lacked the punch that would have made it great. Great performances by Robin Wright and Jason Bateman.
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