State of Play
Universal Pictures | Release Date: April 17, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
PremiereRob Calvert
This is a smart script. There is a wealth of twists, but none of them have to beat you over the head. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Nothing is as it seems in State of Play, a crackerjack political thriller in which no individual, profession or institution gets away clean. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Spins a thorny tale of political corruption laced with personal sleaze. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverRoger Moore
As dense as a Watergate-era newspaper and as immediate as a blog, State of Play is an absolutely riveting state-of-the-art "big conspiracy" thriller. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Acting-wise, the showstopper is Jason Bateman, with a diabolically entertaining turn as a smarmy PR man remarkably free with confidential information. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineJason Buchanan
A rare treat for cinema lovers starved for the days when scruffy newspaper reporters fearlessly sniffed out corruption, State of Play delivers the kind of conspiratorial thrills that would have made Pakula proud. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Until State of Play slips into its small cascade of improbabilities near its end, it proves a thoroughly engaging and professional enterprise. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
An intelligent adult thriller about the death of newspapers. Read full review
80
EmpireDan Jolin
Once you get over the unlikelihood of Affleck and Crowe as buddies, State Of Play stands as a sterling thriller, benefiting from admirable convictions and an arguable return to form by Russell Crowe. Read full review
80
Film ThreatScott Mendelson
It is a refreshingly traditional star-driven thriller. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
There's no question that State of Play feels a little rushed and the density of plot can be daunting, but the resulting tale unfolds with an urgency and sense of verisimilitude that will keep most viewers intrigued and involved without losing many along the way. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie never quite attains altitude. It has a great takeoff, levels nicely, and then seems to land on autopilot. Maybe it's the problem of resolving so much plot in a finite length of time, but it seems a little too facile toward the end. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Co-written by Tony Gilroy, who penned the tricky "Michael Clayton" and the even trickier "Duplicity," State of Play displays its savvy without being quite so showy. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
State of Play isn't a kinetic fireball like the second or third "Bourne" installment; like its protagonist, it's defiantly old school, "Three Days of the Condor" bleeding into "All the President's Men." Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Affleck may strike you as off-putting at first, hitting wrong emotional notes, but hang on. State of Play keeps the twists coming. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Intelligent and engrossing saga. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
For about 115 minutes, State of Play tells an alarming, tightly constructed story, with serious things to say about journalism and the state of the country. The movie appears to be all but over - and likely to stand as one of the best films of 2009. And then the filmmakers add one last embellishment, and they blow it. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
State of Play is far from a great movie, but it's sentimental in all the right ways. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
In the end, though, it's Crowe who must carry the most freight, which he does with another characterization to relish. Still bulky, although not as much so as in "Body of Lies," long-tressed and somewhat grizzled, he finds the gist of the affable eccentricity, natural obsessiveness and mainstream contrarianism that marks many professional journalists. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
The result is a paper-thin alliance between the old-school Cal and the new-media Della. Crowe, husky and whisky-voiced, is warm amidst all the plot mechanics, and McAdams, perky and efficient, is a smart foil for him. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Features a handsome production and terrific performances. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It neither embarrasses the original, nor is superior to it in any way. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Though solidly plotted and executed all around, the film, too, feels like a quaint relic from another era, aping the form of journalistic thrillers like "All The President’s Men" while missing much of their urgency. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The overall lack of subtlety is a riot - there's even a cautionary production of "Peter and the Wolf" happening in the background during one journalist-politician showdown at a Beltway gala. Still, it's a pleasure watching this cast make the most of the material. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It's tricky, it's surprising, and it's largely faithful to the original mini-series, but in context it's a nonevent. It's like a time bomb that's never dismantled but never explodes. The movie is good enough that the ending leaves you … not angry, exactly. Unfulfilled. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
An effectively involving journalism-cum-conspiracy yarn with a bang-bang opening and a frantic closer. Read full review
60
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Crowe has an animal quickness and sensitivity, a threatening way of penetrating what someone is up to, a feeling for weakness in friends as well as opponents. He seems every inch a great journalist; it's not his fault that the filmmakers let the big story slip through their fingers. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
There is nothing we haven't seen here before in terms of chases, intrigue and betrayals, so for all its A-list cast and production values, the film comes off as routine. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Corliss
The film's director, Kevin Macdonald, who did "The Last King of Scotland," is not a flair fellow. The chase scenes interpolated into this version have no special oomph; the encounters no residual kick. Paging Ridley Scott? Oh, sorry, too late. So there it is: another film that can't compete with a TV show. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Somehow when State of Play should be at its stomach-clenching best, the tension simply evaporates. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
After a bracing first hour, State of Play defaults on the most basic promise of the conspiracy thriller. Instead of luring us down an ever-darker and twistier path, it strands us in a tedious and ill-designed maze. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This manages to make the real seem generic, rather than the other way around. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Those Hollywood tricksters have managed to shorten the story while slowing the pace -- all of a sudden, minutes are passing like hours. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
There's simply too much stuff for a two-hour feature, and three writers, including Tony Gilroy, haven't figured out how to boil it down into a readily comprehensible narrative, or how to solve the problem of an ending that goes blah rather than bang. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A superficially clever, self-important and finally incoherent thriller. Read full review
0
New York PostKyle Smith
State of Play is bordered by the states of absurdity and cliché. Read full review
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