State of Play

State of Play

What we are looking at here is the typical political thriller, where we discover some politicians are playing dirty, naughty tricks. Go figure, never saw this plotline before. Whatever.

Now, even though things were pretty generic in the thematic sense, there were a few anomalies that made me think twice about calling it average. Truth was, they did not last long, did not pan out, or simply were put in to distract you- and poorly. Though, I do like the different perspective of the journalist and Politician being old friends. That I will give as being semi original.
It was very deceptive, this type of plot line has been used before, and frequently. Some things here and there are altered to give the illusion of being different from usual, but Just switch the times, places, and people, and you have seen this before.

The acting was good from one standpoint. Only one actor seemed to make this film even slightly worth watching, and that was Russell Crowe. Truth is, I am not the world biggest fan of him, but he pulled out a wonderful performance. Ben Affleck though turned out a horrible performance. [If he even performed at all.] I found a complete lack of emotion in his acting from beginning to end. There was not even one second of pure genuine feeling I got from his character and I was VERY disappointed.
Basically, I feel this film can be skipped and you would still have the same feeling before and after seeing it.

I give this film 2.5 out of 5.