Cal McCaffrey starts off working on a simple story of a street kid & pizza delivery guy shot in a back alley. But before he knows his story starts to link to a bigger scandal, the death of an assistant to Republican Stephen Collins. Having been college roommates with Collins, Cal takes a new interest in the story and sets out to discover the truth. It will lead him and up-and-coming reporter Della Frye down a dark path that uncovers a corporate corruption so big that people are willing to kill in order to keep the truth from coming out.

I watched the British mini-series awhile back for review and loved it. So I was a little hesitant when this came out. Main reason being I am not a Russell Crowe fan, sure he was good as a gladiator and not a bad actor it’s just his personal life that turns me off. Also while James McAvoy did not play the role of Cal in the mini-series he was one of the bigger roles so I personally would have liked to see him take on the role as Cal; but I digress.

Somehow they managed to change enough of the story to make it relevant here in the U.S. while maintaining the intelligence, plot twists, and key points of the mini-series. By shrinking it down from a mini-series to a theatrical movie they did have to chop out some; but what you end up getting is a fast-paced tale with very little down time that you will need to focus if you want to keep up. The acting (even by Ben Affleck) only helps in developing characters that you can feel for, hate, root for, or relate too.

“State Of Play” can be looked at as a mood movie (you know how it will be one that is always listed when you are trying to decide what to watch but gets removed because you may feel it could be heavy); but if you like smart thrillers put it in even if you don’t think you are in the mood. You will get sucked right in and wonder why you put off seeing it for so long.

Those out there that have already seen this movie, please check out the mini-series.