"State of Play" is Dated and Cynical

Only the white knight reporter with a twenty year old computer is safe from State of Play: Kevin MacDonald's political thriller criticizes NewsCorp, bloggers, Blackwater, "showhorse" politicians, the Irish, and Homeland Security. For all it's worth, this is a surprisingly conservative film, encouraging its audience to buy printed newspapers each and every day when the same information is available for free online.
Russell Crowe gives a decent performance as Cal MacLachlan, a stereotypical drunken Irish reporter with a 1990 Saab and a heart of gold. The easy on the eyes Rachel McAdams, is his foil: a blogger who, like all bloggers, is only interested in inane gossip. Both work for the Washington Globe, a dying newspaper held afloat by "MediaCorp", a corporation which is only interested in sensational headlines. Helen Mirren is the Devil Wears Prada-esque bitch editor, but frankly a woman with her talent could do better elsewhere. Ben Affleck gives a surprisingly good performance as Stephen Collins, an up and coming Congressman with a few skeletons in the closet.
The plot gets going when (how else?) someone is hit by a train. That someone is Collins' research assistant/mistress. All signs point to a Blackwater-esque private defense contractor called PointCorp, which Collins' committee was investigating. McCaffrey is assigned to a seemingly unrelated double homicide, but assigns himself to Collins' case since, despite the ten year age difference, he was his college roommate.
This is a pretty dated film, promoting printed news when it is quickly becoming a thing of the past. However, a good script and performances keep it afloat. Predictable twists run throughout, in fact, a better ending would be if the Globe shut down and the reporters would be forced to abandon the story. Still, you could find worse ways to spend two hours in a dark room.
Final Score:
6.2