State of Play
Director, Kevin MacDonald
Cast, Russell Crowe, Ben Aflek, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren
Genre, thriller/drama/mystery

Kevin MacDonald has directed some good movies in his time and one great one (The Last King of Scotland) but State of Play is not one of his golden moments.
Cal McAffrey (Crowe) is a journalist who becomes involved in the murder case of a young woman who was Republican Congressman Stephen Collins' (Aflek) mistress. Stephen Collins is also a former room mate of McAffreys. With the help of rookie journalist, Della Frye (McAdams) and the bitter support of his editor, Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) McAffrey uncovers evidence of something much bigger than just a murder.
The cast is quite impressive (besides Ben Aflek, thanks for Pearl Harbor you prat) and the director is certainly competent, in fact he is quite good but something about this movie fails to deliver. Maybe its just personal opinion (I'm not a fan of mysteries) but this movie is just not very exciting, the story is not particularly stimulating and anything Ben Aflek is in is nigh unwatchable. Again, Pearl Harbor is partly responsible.
Another factor contributing to the films disappointing outcome is the that the story is centred on a Congressman was having sex with someone who sure as hell isn't his wife (you can almost hear everyone in the cinema being bored). Its uninteresting. All you ever hear about in the media nowadays is politicians in sex scandals and the effect of various things (sex in films, music etc.) on our childrens youth, innocence and moral fibre. I'm bored and so is everyone else.
All in all, MacDonald has created a fairly bland world where Russell Crowe gives an average performance and Aflek ruins any chance of the movie turning out watchable.