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State Of Play (DVD)
Year: 2009
Rating: M
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Cast: Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn
Release Date: September 24, 2009
Distributor: Universal
The Film: 4.5
The Disc: 3.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5
Director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King Of Scotland, Touching The Void) has effectively streamlined the acclaimed 2003 six-hour BBC mini-series into a taut, utterly compelling two-hour thriller. Russell Crowe turns in a spookily authentic performance as a shabby and curmudgeonly journo, who becomes embroiled in a murder case involving an old friend who is now a rising Washington politico (Ben Affleck easily portrays the handsome rising political star, and only falters when his facade crumbles and he's required to plumb the emotional depths). Helen Mirren delivers a stunning turn as Crowe's acid-tongued, hard-bitten editor-in-chief (recalling her equally exemplary work in the Prime Suspect TV series), while Rachel McAdams (as Crowe's blogger-turned-reporter sidekick) gives a performance where every gesture and intonation hits a perfect note.
Macdonald has also assembled a stellar supporting cast, including Robin Wright Penn as Affleck's beleaguered wife, Jason Bateman as a key source, and Oscar nominee Viola Davis as a mortician. Electrifying from beginning to end, State Of Play is not to be missed, though the features on the DVD (limited to a making-of featurette and a clutch of deleted scenes) are admittedly a little disappointing. A film of this calibre certainly deserves something a little extra.