Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren
Director: Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland)
Running Time: 2 hr 12 min
Release Date: April 17, 2009
Budget: $60 million
Critics’ Thumbs Up: 75 %
“…absolutely riveting state-of-the-art “big conspiracy” thriller.” Roger Moore, Charlotte Observer
“…bordered by the states of absurdity and cliché.” Kyle Smith, New York Post
The ever chameleon-like Crowe immerses himself in this smart, suspenseful thriller that accurately depicts the clash between old school print journalism and fast-paced blogs. His veteran investigative reporter teams up with McAdam’s fledging blogger to solve the mysterious death of a powerful senator’s (Affleck) research assistant thereby uncovering a shady corporation’s secrets. Crowe and Affleck are miscast as old college buddies, but the whole cast gives convincing performances in this taut, twisty tale thats only flaw is struggling to compress the six-hour BBC mini-series on which it’s based. In newspaper lingo, State wants to be a Pulitzer-winning expose, but in the end comes off like a fluffy feature instead.
