State of Play

First Hit: Well filmed, moved into the tightly woven story, was well paced, but after the film was over while driving home in the car, I realized that the ending didn’t make sense.

This film has a lot going for it. The opening grouping of scenes creates the basis for a good story. A major Washington newspaper is on the edge of collapse. A murder of a homeless person and a pizza delivery man; are they connected? A congressman’s research aide is killed, is it homicide and why? A private security contractor being investigated by congress; pulling these pieces together is premise for this film’s story.

We are expertly guided along with strong acting by Russell Crowe, the reporter who is trying to be a friend and a reporter. We’ve got Ben Affleck, the friend and congressman; Helen Mirren, Crowes’ boss; and Robin Wright Penn, the congressman’s wife, all doing their part to create a strong story, only to have it make no sense at the end. Why?

Here it is the day after, and I still don’t understand why the writers and director let this film fall apart. The information presented in the story doesn’t add up when the end is played out.

Right after the film ended, I was OK but I felt questions developing. Exploring these with my girlfriend on the way home quickly exposed the flaws in the story. By the time we reached home the holes were wide open and big enough to drive a tank through.

The surprise is that this film fails at its objective, to tell a good cohesive story, and I don't know why.

Kevin Macdonald directed this film and I don’t know if it was him, the writers Matthew Michael Carnahan, Bill Ray, and Tom Gilroy, or all of them that let this thing flail and fall apart at the end. I don’t know if others will see and sense what we did, but when one takes the facts of the story and attempt to piece them together, you’ll find that the pieces of the puzzle don’t fit. Shame, though, the acting was really good.

Overall: Sad to have this very disappointing aftertaste when the appetizers were so good and the meal was excellently served.

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