State of Play: The Queen's Quips

I just saw State of Play and loved it!  I found it to be an intelligent expose on investigative reporting, leaving the viewer wondering who will be doing this sort of in depth research into government and corporate corruption when newspapers are no more.

Set in the halls of Congress and the city room of a newspaper not unlike the Washington Post, this is a political movie about  corporate malfeasance leading to a number of deaths. Think Blackwater.

If an outfit like that would kill for hire, the plot wonders, would it also kill to protect its profits?  Or is it really about dysfunctional relationships and mental illness?

The plot keeps you guessing and moves along quickly leaving the viewer struggling to keep up with the mind of midlife reporter Cal played by Russell Crowe, as well as the background and developments in his relationships with Congressman Collins (Ben Affleck) and his wife.

I like a movie that MOVES  and challenges my mind, while also making me think about the demise of newspapers and hard core investigative reporting in America.  In this movie the reporter is far ahead of the police in the crime investigation, partly because he has personal relationships with a few of the major players in the story!

I hope this isn’t the last of the great newspaper movies.  If newspapers are on their way out, who will be paid to get the story beneath the story then?

Tagged as: movie review, Queen's quips, State of Play, the future of investigative reporting, the future of newspapers