Film Critics Weigh In

What the pros had to say about “State of Play” and its representation of the limping journalism

business.

• “…it’s actually fun watching the journalists put this story together.”

• “If this performance can’t save newspapers, it certainly makes them seem like the most entertaining place in the world to work.”

Wesley MorrisBoston Globe

• “…a newspaper movie that is acutely aware of the crisis affecting newspapers.”

• “He tries to teach her some ancient newspaper wisdom, such as: If you seem to be on the edge of uncovering an enormous political scandal, don’t blow your cover by hurrying online with two-bit gossip.”

• “The paper’s corporate owners are on her neck to cut costs, redesign the venerable front page, get more scoops, and go for the gossip today instead of waiting for the Pulitzer tomorrow.”

• “There is, in fact, an eerie valedictory feeling to the film; mother of God, can this be the last newspaper movie?”

Roger EbertSun Times

• “…a sleek, reliable Hollywood package, wrapped in a mournful last hurrah for print investigative journalism…”

• “Not everyone will be interested in “State of Play’s” depiction of the End Times of daily newspapering…

• “In 2009, it’s more like an elegy.” [reference to the end of the movie when the “presses are churning the hard-won truth”]

Michael PhillipsChicago Tribune

• “When he squares off with a colleague on the paper, a chirpy blogger who believes that getting the gossip “angle” on the news is the same thing as reporting it, you feel the sting of his warrior’s contempt, and also the righteous joy he takes in being the guardian of something larger than himself.”

• “The issue of newspapers fighting to stay alive in the Internet era exerts a particularly topical zing.”

• “It’s one of the first journalistic dramas to take up this theme… more than that, though, the movie’s plea for the investigatory relevance of its hero’s profession begins.”

Owen GleibermanEntertainment Weekly

• I will admit that I choked up a little at the end of “State of Play.” Not because the story was especially moving — or even, ultimately, all that interesting — but because the iconography of the closing credits tugged at my ink-stained heartstrings. The images are stirring and familiar, though in a few years’ time they may look as quaint as engravings of stagecoaches and steam engines. A breaking, earthshaking story makes its way from computer screen to newsprint. The plates are set, the presses whir, sheaves of freshly printed broadsheet are collated, stacked on pallets and sent out to meet the eyes of the hungry public. Truth has been told, corruption revealed and new oxygen pumped into the civic bloodstream. All that’s missing is a paperboy yelling “extra!” to crowds of commuters in raincoats and fedoras.

A.O. ScottNew York Times

• “By positioning an investigative journalist in the protagonist’s role, State of Play achieves an old-fashioned feel while also allowing the filmmakers to comment upon the current state of the print business.”

• “…make money or perish, and all other considerations-including fact checking stories and holding headlines until all the details are uncovered- are secondary. Things were never like this for Woodward and Bernstein in All the President’s Men.

James BerardinelliReelviews

• “…Crowe is the perfect study of the middle-aged, midcareer print journalist, whose skills aren’t flashy, just essential to a democracy.”

• “The struggle of newspapers to survive informs the script.”

• “…particularly in a movie that for a time seems as if it’s going to be the best newspaper picture since “All the President’s Men.”

• “…State of Play may have more to say about the beleaguered state of print journalism than about governmental shenanigans.”

• “The tension between attention-getting blogs and traditional print reporting is captured effectively.”

• “… forming a partnership symbolic of investigative journalism and emerging styles of reporting.”

Claudia PuigUSA Today

• This movie was one that desperately needed to be made for journalists.

• The battle of the blogger and multimedia reporter, profits of the newspaper and influence of advertisers against the hard news and classic reporting of traditional newspapers shows through brilliantly.

• Russel Crowe is infinitely a better choice than originally cast Brad Pitt for the role of Cal McAffrey, it worked out better than the producers could’ve hoped.

Adam MingJRN 411