This young/old, print/online synergy is indicative of the movie's stance on the Internet's dominance over the newspaper industry. Though Cal and Della become friends, Della is constantly second-guessed, and the film on the whole seems rather dismissive of the idea of Internet journalism. Which does actually raise a good question: In this age of instant headlines, when all it takes to get the word out is to hit the enter button, should we? Shouldn't we slow down and get back to the ways of good old investigative reporting? Doesn't it make you shudder to think of breaking news getting Twittered? State of Play, of course, says yes to all of the above, but then again, as Roger Ebert wrote in his review, "Shouting 'stop the presses!' is ever so much more exciting than shouting 'stop the upload!'"
And one of the most enjoyable things about State of Play is that it does indeed get back to the roots of the newspaper thriller, and relishes in its conventions. Cal and Della work their sources, get too close to the heart of the story, and uncover revelation after revelation. There's even the larger-than-life ruthless editor, here played by a delightfully pissed-off Helen Mirren (she gets to call Russell Crowe a "geezer," and that alone is probably worth the price of admission). And, like any newspaper flick worth its salt, there's a hidden conspiracy at the center of the film which may directly implicate the federal government.
It's to the credit of screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, and Billy Ray, working from the acclaimed 2003 BBC mini-series of the same name, that State of Play's many twists and turns not only make sense but are genuinely surprising. When compared to something leaden and predictable like Taken, we realize how truly pleasurable it is to watch a good mystery unfold, its layers slowly falling away until we get to the shocking denouement. Unfortunately, though, perhaps the one thing holding State of Play back is that it lacks the right momentum. For a while, it's enough to merely watch director Kevin Macdonald breathe life into rusty old thriller clichés, the talented cast obviously having a good time with the sharp back-and-forth dialogue, but at some point we expect the movie to really get going, for the tension to shoot into the stratosphere.
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