Dodgy dealings

State of Play
12A, Nationwide

State of Play is a thriller based on the six-part BBC series shown on television in 2003 and which, I confess, I did not see. Probably, it was because What Not To Wear was on the other side and, I’m sorry, I just wouldn’t have had the confidence to know what not to wear if I’d missed it. Anyway, the action has been shifted from London to Washington, the length has been shrunk to two hours and it stars Russell Crowe as Cal McAffrey, an old-school investigative journalist who is also wearily righteous, as these characters so often are. Further, he drives a dirty, scruffy, old banger with a lot of rubbish piled up on the back seat — newspapers; empty coffee cups; crumpled fast-food wrappers — but you didn’t need me to tell you that either, did you?

So, what’s the deal? OK, it all kicks off when a congressman’s beautiful, sexy researcher is pushed under a subway train. Who murdered her, and why? Cal, God bless him, is into his banger and on to it, with one thing leading to another until he finds himself immersed in a murky world of corporate conspiracy, political corruption, dodgy defence contracts, adultery and homicide. I must say I’m glad I’m not a proper journalist as it looks very tiring, and also you’re expected to find stuff out. Like I have the time! Tonight, for instance, I’m going out and as of yet I haven’t a clue what not to wear!

This is one of those films which has nothing too obviously wrong with it. I liked Crowe’s wearily righteous performance, and even his appearance — podgy and pasty with shoulder-length hair, he resembles a potato in a wig — but it just all seems rather ‘so what?’.