Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

seymourblack-1 This fast-moving political thriller follows a newspaper investigation into a huge conspiracy that involves a powerful corporation and corrupt politicians. "PointCorp" already holds numerous government contracts, primarily for security work, but is also engaged in an effort to ensure that U.S. Homeland Security is effectively privatised so that the corporation can profit from becoming the sole contractor for all the work involved. The stakes are high as there are literally billions of dollars to be made from the government contracts and so the ruthless people at the top of the corporation are prepared to do whatever's necessary to ensure that they'll get what they want."Washington Globe" investigative reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) takes an interest in a night-time double-shooting incident during which a drug-addicted bag thief was killed and a pizza delivery man was incapacitated and then, next morning hears about a young woman who'd reportedly committed suicide by jumping under a subway train. It soon comes to light that the woman was Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer), a researcher who was working for Cal's ex-college roommate, Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). Collins is one of his party's rising stars and the chairman of a committee that's currently looking into the activities of PointCorp. When Collins receives the news about Sonia during a hearing that's being broadcast on TV, he tearfully informs everyone present and later, when he meets up with Cal, admits that Sonia was his lover and says that he's absolutely convinced that she didn't kill herself.When it emerges that Sonia disappeared under a train in one of the subway's CCTV blind spots, the bag thief was carrying a briefcase he'd stolen from PointCorp and the pizza delivery man is shot dead in his hospital bed, Cal becomes convinced of a link between all three killings and the existence of a major conspiracy. Cal's editor, Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren), teams him up with Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), a young inexperienced Capitol Hill blogger who writes for the Globe's online version and a major breakthrough follows when she recognises a man who features in one of the photos which was found in the briefcase that was stolen by the bag thief. This then enables Della and Cal to get the information they need to unravel the mystery surrounding Sonia's death and the whole PointCorp conspiracy that, after some further twists and turns, enables them to go to press with their major story.Despite the rather involved nature of this movie's plot and the impressive speed with which the action's delivered, it never loses its clarity and always takes sufficient time to provide all the information that's necessary to make its characters seem totally credible. As a veteran journalist, Cal believes in avoiding sensationalism and checking out his stories thoroughly to ensure that they're accurate. However, his high standards are no longer appreciated in the fast-moving digital world where speed is valued far more highly than accuracy or good taste. By contrast, Della's far more in tune with the current news environment as her gossipy stories and opinion columns take far less time to produce and have the advantage of also attracting a large readership.As the struggling "Washington Globe" has new owners (MediaCorp) who are only interested in profits, they've put great pressure on its editor to improve the bottom line or else see the paper closed down and consequently, this pressure makes Cameron Lynne become increasingly demanding, bad tempered and snappy with her staff.The differences between Cal, Della and Cameron add interest to their working relationships and the fact that Cal's friendly with Collins and had previously had an affair with his wife Ann (Robin Wright), makes his struggle for objectivity even more difficult than it would normally be. The quality of the acting in this movie is consistently top-class with superb performances by all its main players and Robin Wright and Jason Bateman (as the PR agent who turns informant) both excellent in their important supporting roles.

Brigid O Sullivan (wisewebwoman) Why does Hollywood hire the best cast, crew and direction, use a perfectly good political plot borrowed from the UK and then proceed to pander it to unsuspecting viewers by dumbing it down completely.The "script" in the US version is full of plot-holes that frustrated this viewer: once you know who the assassin is connected to (red herrings abound) it makes even less sense. The contrived affair between Afflecks' wife, played by Robin Wright, rang completely false. The original series had her as a scheming and vengeful spurned wife. And the crusty disheveled old reporter buying the hot cub reporter a necklace of pens? Oh please. Helen Mirren walked on and off screaming Britishly as demanded.No tensions whatsover, Justin Bateman as a sleazy PR guy shone.Disappointing. But interesting to see the Washington Post inner workings.3/10

sourav ray This movie is remake of British TV series with same name. The British TV series far far better than this movie. Heavy casting but a complete garbage. I am expecting better performance from Ben. The movie was trying to separate from movie but they just lost the plot and thrill of a suspense drama. British screenplay was smarter with sense of humour Russell Crow is not fit to a journalist character and the British counter part is far better. The editor's character was a significant in the story but in the movie that role spoiled the whole character. I suggest you to watch TV series instead this bad handled movie. Though the raise American biggest problem war against false terror. The try to shorten the story but added some unnecessary scene like cal chased by assassin.

hall895 State of Play is a film which weaves a tangled web and then struggles mightily, and ultimately unsuccessfully, to untangle it. It's a political thriller in which an intrepid newspaper reporter, with the assistance of a cute blogger, tries to get to the heart of some nefarious conspiracy. But the reporter gets bogged down and the movie does too. The plot is quite convoluted which leads to both boredom and glaring plot holes. It's a story with twists, meant to keep you guessing. But by the end you may no longer be interested enough to be bothered to hazard a guess at what's really going on here.The story deals with PointCorp, a shadowy private defense contractor which is being investigated by Congress. It's Congressman Stephen Collins who is leading the investigation. We meet him just as he is delivered some crushing news: the woman who was his lead researcher has just been killed by a Washington Metro train. Looks like suicide but Collins doesn't believe it. He would certainly have some personal insight into the woman's frame of mind seeing as he was having an affair with her. Once that information becomes public Collins is enveloped in quite the scandal. This of course is not at all bad news for PointCorp. To try to get to the bottom of this Collins turns to old friend Cal McAffrey, investigative newspaper reporter. Cal is on the case but, much to his chagrin, he finds himself teamed up with perky young Della Frye, blogger from the newspaper's online operation. Suffice to say Cal doesn't have much respect for cutie-pie bloggers. Anyhow this odd couple works the story and the film begins to take numerous twists and turns as it moves to what is ultimately a rather disappointing end.A quite unkempt Russell Crowe plays Cal and Crowe provides a solid foundation for the film to build on. With the likes of Helen Mirren, Robin Wright and Jeff Daniels on board this was always going to be a well-acted movie. Rachel McAdams also does fine work in the role of young, naive Della. Ben Affleck, playing Collins, doesn't make for the most convincing congressman but he's not so bad that it really hurts the film. What does hurt the film is that the story just never works properly. It's all about a big conspiracy but there's never enough of a hook to make you really care about that conspiracy. And the film keeps piling on more and more information, so many different strands of the plot which need to tie together. It's all a bit too much. This is a story which desperately needs a big payoff but the ending is not nearly as smart as the filmmakers apparently thought it was. In a film which needs to be filled with suspense there really is very little of it. Honestly the subplot about the pressure on the reporters and their editor, what with the dying newspaper industry and all, seems more compelling than the big conspiracy that the film is actually about. There's a hint of an interesting story in this film but that story gets buried under the weight of the unwieldy plot. Some good performances, especially from Crowe who creates a very interesting character, but the performances are not enough to salvage the film.