Synopsis:

A team of investigative reporters work alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman's mistress.

The Freak's Rating: B+ : For as much as Americans would like to believe we are a country of originality, we are not.  Our lack of creativity can be seen in every episode of 24 and 98% of romantic comedies we generate.  We are a country who believes in milking ideas to death.  Reference any television show whose first season starts out strong (e.g. - Lost, Grey's Anatomy, ER, etc...) and then take a look at its second season.  After a network or studio sees that something is popular, they pay no attention to character arcs or a true storyline and their focus turns to the mighty dollar.  Where Americans really excel is remaking ideas other countries create.  Films like The Ring, The Grudge and The Uninvited all had success in Japan before America remade them.  The Office, one of the biggest shows on television in the states, was first a British show (properly concluding after two seasons before ideas ran dry I might add).  We take good ideas and attempt to put an American spin on them, and sometimes it works...as it does with State Of Play (a remake of the 2003 BBC miniseries).

State Of Play is a supercharged mystery drama, its protagonist an old-timer reporter (think Woodward or Bernstein) hell bent on retrieving stories the old fashioned way in a modern world.  This reporter, Cal (Russell Crowe), has an interesting problem come up when his roommate from college, Senator Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), is implicated in an adulterous murder scandal with his office assistant.  Cal attempts to balance being a good reporter and being a good friend, all the while training a new recruit to the newspaper, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), and attempting to stay in the good graces of the newspaper editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren). 

Casting is 90% stellar, 10% horrible oversight.  Russell Crowe is incredibly relatable as Cal, easily convincing you to feel the pressure of every situation within which he finds himself.  Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels are all wonderful in their parts, near perfect.  Now, on to the 10% complete oversight...Ben Affleck.  Affleck is a decent actor, but for me will never soar out of mediocrity.  He does his best work here as Stephen Collins, but quite simply doesn't have the gusto for the part.  Without giving any of the plot away, I'll just say Collins requires a little more strength at moments than Affleck can muster up.  This is a glaring oversight by the casting directors and forces some scenes meant to showcase Collins' power fall incredibly flat based solely on believability.

Affleck aside, this is a really good picture.  The plot twists, mystery and suspense are well done.  Pacing is maintained in an edge-of-your-seat style and I truly was anxious to find out how it was going to end.  The ending is controversial among reviewers and may confuse audiences of the Tivo generation who are unable to skip back a few seconds to catch what just happened...so pay attention!  Had Sean Penn been cast in Affleck's role, this is a solid A picture.  As it stands, it toes the line just underneath.

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