If you ask me, Russell Crowe must age in dog years. I mean, he's still attractive enough for an older guy, I suppose - but he looks twice as old as he did in Gladiator. That came out in 2001... I checked. Anyway, I like Russell Crowe. I just noticed that he seemed a lot older in the last few films I've watched.Okay, to the topic at hand. State of Play. Since this does not star Will Ferrell or Vince Vaughn or since it in no way looks like a romantic comedy, you can guess whose Netflix list it came from. But, since David has done nothing but watch The Office with me all week, I figured I would indulge him. And, while comedy is my favorite, I don't mind a good crime drama every now and then.
That's pretty much what this was. First, there are two random murders in Washington DC. Russell Crowe plays Cal, a reporter who covers the story. Then, a woman is killed in the subway in what appears to be a suicide. The woman is the mistress of Ben Affleck's character... Congressman Collins. Oh, and it just so happens that Collins and Cal the reporter were college roommates. Rachel McAdams character, Della, starts covering the affair / suicide story. Cal and Collins talk a little about the situation. Somehow Cal ends up covering the story along with Della (I missed that part... I think my Weight Watchers meal finished microwaving.) So, they start doing their own investigation for the story but they end up uncovering a variety of facts and connections the police have missed. Predictably, the two random murders are connected to the death of the mistress. The majority of the movie is spent untangling the web of connections and Collins role in it all. Several versions of the "real story" exist. Including one that bizarrely involves Jason Bateman. Hmmm, Jason Bateman. Sometimes I like him, sometimes I don't. This time, I didn't like his character (which was the point of his character) but thought he did a really good job portraying it. Well, in the end, the truth is exposed and the news story can finally go to print. All in all, not a bad movie. It sort of felt like most other crime movies with the twists and turns, but there were some surprises. The most interesting part was that, as the credits were rolling, they showed how the news story went from being typed on the computer all the way through to the newspapers being printed and delivered. Very cool to see. I especially thinks it's cool because we are probably the last generation that will really have experienced newspapers. I don't think newspapers will vanish completely (or maybe they will?) but news is online now. I get the majority of my news from Twitter. If I want the full story, I click the link on the tweet and read about it at a news website. I don't see that changing... just expanding. So, I thought the end was a neat homage to a fading industry.
I also forgot to mention that Helen Mirren was in the movie as the editor of the newspaper. I like Helen Mirren. I like British words. I try to use them a lot. It's fun and it throws people off. I mean, doesn't it sound cooler to call someone a "prat" than it does "jerk"? Helen Mirren was not a happy camper because Russell Crowe kept pushing his deadline, so she used a variety of colorful language. At one point, she called someone a wanker. I yelled "I love wanker!" and then said "Wait..." after I realized what I said. David laughed and said "I thought you might want to rethink that!" But it's too late... I will always think of this as the "I love wanker" movie. Even if I tried to forget, David has now taken to texting me "Wainker" at least once a day. Yes, I've corrected is spelling. No, he doesn't seem to care.
I think I'm going to give this movie a B-/C+ Pretty good but a little predictable and slow in parts.
PS- This will be my first attempt at scheduling a post. I will be out of town Monday, so I'm going to give this a try. Hopefully you'll get your Movie Review Monday... but if you get Movie Review Saturday or Sunday, then enjoy a little early.
