The film asks you to believe that Crowe and Affleck were college roommates and BFFs, although Crowe portrays a real slob of a reporter and Affleck a neat and tidy Congressman. It is unlikely that two such different individuals would be BFFs, they are more like the odd couple. I think they would have gotten on each other's nerves big time.
Meanwhile seemingly everybody is having sex with everybody else, getting shot, and selling out each other for money, leverage, or the proverbial scoop. All this is set against the very current backdrop of failing newspapers, private-security-for-hire mercenary forces, and corrupt politicians.
Do I sound like they didn't quite close the sale? State of Play is decent mystery-thriller whodunit with a nice twist at the end. For my money Affleck and Mirren did quite good jobs, McAdams wasn't bad, and Crowe, the biggest star, sort of phoned it in. Because his was the lead character, the film fell short of being the big splash it could have been.
