Cliff Note Reviews #9

 

Cliff Note Reviews is an ongoing series where I briefly state my thoughts on recent films I've watched but don't have the desire to create a full review surrounding.  Short and to the point opinions on films that might make decent weekend watchers when you have nothing else to do, films to completely stay away from, and occasionally a few highly recommended films that I simply don't feel need to be given a full review due to already overexposure.

Morning Glory (2010)

Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) has a few months to turn around a dying Morning Show or her dreams of prime time news producer will forever be lost.  But how do you save a show that's really got no hope of survival?  I've loved Hollywood's girl next door (Rachel McAdams) ever since I saw Red Eye, and loved her even more when I finally got around to seeing The Notebook; throw in one of my all-time favorites (Harrison Ford) as the grumpy old man and not loving this film would have been difficult!  It's a refreshing, well assembled comedy that falters only when it attempts to throw in a romantic twist with McAdams and Patrick Wilson, an aspect of the film that adds nothing to the story except slows it down. 8/10

Bad Teacher (2011)

After getting kicked to the curb by her wealthy fiancee, who realizes she was only using him for his money, Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) goes back to her old job of teaching junior high with the goal of saving up enough cash to buy some implants and meet another wealthy guy to sponge off of. Like most crass comedies now a-days Bad Teacher doesn't bring much originality to the table it simply takes the played out bits and puts a new millennium spin on them.  Sort of like Cameron Diaz's character going to a lot of trouble to scrummage up $9,800 for breast implants.  Still Bad Teacher manages to be slightly more amusing than I expected and actually not as crass as I thought it would have been, minus a small amount of nudity (which before you ask, is not from Diaz) the horrible PG-13 Dinner For Schmucks is a lot more offensive and just down right un-amusing to boot.  Still this isn't one for the kiddies. 7/10

Horrible Bosses (2011)

Three friends reach the end of the line in terms of coping with their harassing bosses and get into a boatload of trouble in an attempt to regain control of their work lives.  Another crass comedy that definitely succeeds in being so.  Once again nothing really new here and at times it's completely predictable.  Although it's slightly saved by the great cast that make up the actual "horrible bosses", being Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston, who all gave very convincing and entertaining performances.  The last twenty minutes of the film succeeds in being very exciting, while everything leading up to it is more or less average with highlights of hilarity usually brought to you by Jamie Foxx.  Also a little more screen time for Aniston's character would have been nice to balance out the overly male centric cast. 6/10

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Mean Girls (2004)

 

Originally Reviewed

Sunday September 11, 2005

Mean Girls is another somewhat stereo-typical teen high school film. One where you know half of the drama is true and the other half of it is a little blown out of proportion. All I know is high school in this film is quite different from my high school experience.  Of course being a male "fitting in" and the "girl clicks" is kind of out of my territory, so maybe high school is like this for girls. Still it all makes for a highly entertaining viewing experience.

Lindsey Lohan plays Kadie, a girl home schooled her whole life while growing up in Africa.  When her family moves back to the states it's time for her to begin her first year at public school. She quickly becomes friends with the social outcasts, a gay guy and a Gothic girl, who give her the "down low" on all the different groups of people or "clicks" at the school specifying those she should stay away from, the worst being the "Plastics". The Plastics are the prissy, stuck up girls who, while being super hot, are void of any intelligence or humanity.

Rachel McAdams plays Regina George, the queen bee of the group whose sole existence is to ruin everyone’s life. I still cannot get over the fact at how different Rachel looks, she's hardly recognizable, and looks about seventeen years old in this film when she was actually around twenty-seven at the time. Along with Rachel is the very hot Lacey Chabert who plays Gretchen, the daughter of the creator of the toaster strudel. Lacy reminds me a lot of Jennifer Love Hewitt in terms of looks and the fact that her choice of acting roles has been about as bad. Chabert plays Regina's right hand hottie quite well.

When Kadie gets noticed by the Plastics, because she is rather attractive, she begins to get sucked into the world of high school snobbery. Kadie's outcast friends convince her to take this opportunity to get the scoop on Regina George and try and ruin her life. In the process Kadie begins to become more and more like the Plastics in the way she dresses, talks and treats others. Regina finds out about the plan to ruin her, and turns the tables around on Kadie and the rest of the girls by making copies of the "Burn Book", a book where the girls write hurtful things about all the other girls at school. This leads to more of a mess when everyone begins to read it, and Kadie's life really begins to spiral downwards.

I'm not a Lindsey Lohan fan (especially now that she's turned into a major mess), but during this period of her short decent film career she did a good job. Of course for me Rachel and Lacy stole the show but Lindsey isn't half bad either. The Math Club scenes were my favorite, with KG the Indian math nerd who thought he was all that... hilarious.  Especially when he rips off his shirt after the team won the State Math Finals! Overall, Mean Girls was a surprising teen comedy treat, I really never expected to like it much and while some of the aspects of the film seem a little far fetched it was definitely entertaining.

8/10

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The Hot Chick (2002)

Originally Reviewed

Thursday September 15, 2005

Let me first get this out of the way, I don't like Rob Schneider.  For that matter I think 99.9% of the newer Saturday Night Live cast member who "try" to movie careers simply end up wasting film. The only Saturday Night Live cast members who ever had successful movie careers and descent films was the early cast, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray and a few others. The .01% of decent newer cast members (decent in the since their films make good money) would include Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell, but other than that the rest of these "comedians" put out one horrible comedy after another that would barely hold up as a 5 minute sketch. Sorry if that is too blunt for some of you, but there should be a law that "actors" such as Rob Schneider should not be allowed to make films, unless they are going to actually put out something of quality. So your probably wondering why I watched this... well I watched it because Rachel McAdams, who sadly is only in the film for maybe fifteen minutes, and only listed second on the credits to sell DVDs.

The Hot Chick is about a prissy high school cheerleader named Jessica, played by Rachel McAdams, similar to her Mean Girls role but very much more toned down in comparison. Jessica isn't as brutal and evil has her Mean Girls counterpart but she is still a semi-brat. Jessica gets her hands on some magical earrings causing her to switch bodies with any person in possession of the one of the earrings. Rob, plays a thief and is robbing the local gas station when Jessica and her friends come along, Jessica drops one of the earrings and Rob ends up picking it up and putting it on, giving Jessica the body of Rob, and Rob the body of Jessica. The rest of the film consists of Jessica (as Rob) trying to get her body back and what caused this transformation.

To sum this film up in a sentence, it consists of Rob constantly pulling down his pants and acting gay. The film is so poorly written that it's basically a merry-go-round of the lame jokes and awkward situations occurring, like Rob pulling his pants down, the half black half Korean girl's mom embarrassing her daughter or Adam Sandler making a cameo banging the drums and talking about weed. The acting is horrible, Jessica's best friend April (Anna Faris) was annoying as always and no different from every other character she's ever played, completely ditsy. Even the cameo appearances where horrible, but what do you expect when most of them are low rate TV sitcom stars. It's sad when Matt Lawrence gives the best acting performance out of everyone. Rachel does a decent job, but her character simply isn't very convincing as a really stuck up person.

Overall this film falls very short, the funny parts such as the pillow fight, the dance floor scene and a couple others couldn't save it. It's simply too repetitious and I really got tired of Rob pulling his pants down and talking about his "little rob". I would have liked to have seen more of Rachel’s character as Rob in Jessica's body and less of Jessica in Rob's body. In the end, the few short minutes of good scenes and Rachel’s limited appearance couldn't get me to give this a favorable rating... sorry Rachel, but hey its one of her first film appearances so I guess what should I except, you take what you can get. 

3/10

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Wedding Crashers (2005)

Originally Reviewed 

Sunday January 8, 2006

Funniest Movie Of The Year!

That's what everyone's saying about Wedding Crashers, which isn't saying much for the other comedies this year [speaking of 2006], if any other comedies existed. It's like stating you’re the best man for the job when you’re the only one who applied! Wedding Crashers is funny... sometimes but in no way deserves the praise it's receiving.

John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) work together and have been friends since they were kids. Every year when spring rolls around (the biggest wedding season) they go out crashing weddings, pretending to be part of the family with the sole goal of picking up hot chicks for one night stands. As crashers they are quite successful until they try and pull off their biggest crash by attending the wedding of Treasury Secretary William Cleary's (Christopher Walken) daughter. John ends up meeting Claire (Rachel McAdams), Cleary's other daughter and falls in love with her instantly (who wouldn't). Jeremy picks out a pretty red head, who also happens to be one of Cleary's daughters’s, only she ends up being a little psycho and tells Jeremy that they're going to be together forever!

John instantly feels a connection with Claire but finds out she's got a boyfriend.  Gloria (Jeremy's nutcase catch) invites them all over to her house, Jeremy wants nothing more to do with her, but John still feels he has a chance with Claire. The rest of the story sees John and Claire growing closer, while a jealous boyfriend gets even and figures out John and Jeremy's true identities, blowing their cover wide open and John's chance with Claire.

At times this film was funny, at times it was boring, as a whole it was way too long for a comedy. There were so many pointless scenes in this film that could have been cut out to make a much shorter and well rounded film at a solid 90 minutes, but past that point I was beginning to wonder when this film was going to end! Some of the characters like Jane Seymour and Will Ferrell had no purpose in the grand scheme of things whatsoever, they could have both been cut out and nothing would have been missed. All Ferrell adds in his five minutes on screen is about half the film's expletives, nothing more.

As for acting, Owen Wilson and of course Rachel McAdams give the best performances. I found their story to be the most enjoyable, and would have rather seen more of that than most of the Vince Vaughn scenes, who annoyed me most of the film with his constant rambling (as he always does). Christopher Walken wasn't that great either, he was far from his usual campy persona and was mostly dry and boring. The main problem is Wilson and Vaughn are sidekicks, they aren't very entertaining unless they have someone funnier than they are leading the way, such as the usual Ben Stiller or Jackie Chan combinations, without their usual teammates these two simply aren't as entertaining, its like watching Andy Griffin without Barney Fife.

Overall I found Wedding Crashers to be alright, the Wilson and McAdams scenes were my favorite, the film dragged on way too long and never accomplished much for all the time it spent. It easily could have had 30 minutes cut and nothing would have been missed, I'm almost scared to think about how long the uncut version must be and what kind of crap they actually did cut that's thrown in there! Comedies should not be this long, because the average comedy plot line is so thin that after about an hour everything begins to grow old. In the end it was Rachel McAdams lovely smile that helped get me through the end of this drugged out crash. 

5/10

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The Notebook (2004)

Originally Reviewed

Sunday December 25, 2005

I have never been a big fan of sappy romance films, but The Notebook made me a fan whether it was the very touching and engrossing story or the tremendous emotional performance given by the lovely Rachel McAdams. Whatever it may have been this film pulled me in, and has made me a fan.

The Notebook begins in a nursing home overlooking a beautiful lake where James Garner is reading a story to an older woman about a young couple, Noah and Allie. Noah was a rather poor mill worker, who immediately falls in love with a rich well to do girl named Allie. Noah isn't one to take no for an answer, if he wants something he'll do whatever it takes to make sure he gets it. So he does whatever he can to get the attention of Allie. His overwhelming passion and persistence to win her over leads to her falling madly in love with him as well.

Throughout the summer Noah and Allie become inseparable, never agreeing on anything but still both madly in love with one another. As the long summer draws towards an end, Allie's parents begin to disapprove of her relationship with Noah because of his social status and lifestyle. Noah begins to realize that this relationship isn't going to work, especially with Allie soon going off to school in New York.  The possibility of the two of them ever being together seems almost impossible, Noah will never be able to live the life she does.

Allie's parents move early and force her to go along before she has a chance to straighten things with Noah or even say goodbye. Noah writes to her everyday for a year but never receives a response, so he decides to move on since its clear Allie has done the same. Allie meets a young wealthy man from the south, who she quickly falls in love with and becomes engaged to, of course her parents approve of him, yet she is still unable to forget her love for Noah.

All is well until Allie spots Noah's picture in the paper in front of a plantation house he had restored. During the summer they spent together Noah had told her of his plans to one day buy this old plantation house and restore it, promising her he would complete it for her. Seeing this brought all the old emotions back and Allie travels back to the small town of Seabrook, where Noah lives, to try and set the past straight before she gets married to her wealthy boyfriend. In doing so she's unable to control her love for Noah must choose between the two men that she loves.

The Notebook is very well done, of course Rachel McAdams was great, I need not say more. Ryan Gosling (Noah) was rather dull at times but made up for it during some of the more emotional scenes. Rachel had the toughest role in my opinion, her character had to go through the worst emotional up and down roller coaster and she pulled it off brilliantly. The scenery in this film was nothing short of breathtaking, especially the scenes overlooking the lake, and the row boat scene with all the ducks.

Overall, I loved this film and think its Rachel’s best performance yet. Without Rachel McAdams I would not have given this film a perfect score. Her performance is the icing on the cake of an already well made film, I think she gave a wonderful performance and can't see anyone else trying to play her role. The films' ending is sad, but at the same time it’s happy, you'll understand what I mean if you watch the film. This is the one film that truly brings me to tears, and if you’re a McAdams fan or like a good romance film, you'll love The Notebook.

10/10

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Rachel McAdams

Born: October 7, 1976

Location: London, Ontario, Canada

Quote: "A friend of mine had this great theory about the Teletubbies, that it's preparing us for being mindless. And getting us ready for living in an underground world. When they build the underground world because we can no longer breathe the air that it will look like Teletubbie land."

Named Answer's Angel: September 7, 2005

Answer's Actress Of The Year: 2005

I first stumbled upon Rachel McAdams when I saw Red Eye, at least that is what really hooked me. Then I realized that she was in Mean Girls as well, which was kind of weird since she looks and acts completely different, which really shows a good actor when you can't relate them with some of the other characters they've played.

Interesting Tidbits:

- Born in the same hospital as The Notebook co-star Ryan Gosling - St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario.

- Received a record five MTV Movie Award nominations in a single year.

- Formerly a vegetarian.

Hotness Rating: 10/10

What can I say, she looks beautiful even when she is terrified and has some psycho chasing her.

Acting Rating: 10/10

Great job on Red Eye, and great job playing a stuck up bimbo in Mean Girls, I seriously didn't even know it was her, which is talent. But if you really want to see Rachel at her best you much watch The Notebook, because this film really brings across her talent and ability to shine in an emotional role.

Filmography Rating: 7/10 (films reviewed are linked)

1. Sherlock Holmes (2009) .... Irene Adler (7/10)
2. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) .... Clare Abshire (7/10)
3. State of Play (2009) .... Della Frye (8/10)
4. The Lucky Ones (2008) .... Colee Dunn
5. Married Life (2007) .... Kay Nesbitt
6. The Family Stone (2005) .... Amy Stone
7. Red Eye (2005) .... Lisa Reisert (8/10)
8. Wedding Crashers (2005) .... Claire Cleary (5/10)
9. "Slings and Arrows" .... Kate McNab
10. The Notebook (2004) .... Allie Hamilton (10/10)
11. Mean Girls (2004) .... Regina George (8/10)
12. The Hot Chick (2002) .... Jessica (3/10)
13. My Name Is Tanino (2002) .... Sally Garfield
14. Guilt by Association (2002) (TV) .... Danielle 

Overall Rating
9/10

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Red Eye (2005)

Originally Written

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

Red Eye stars the lovely Rachel McAdams as Lisa Reisert. She's the manager of a rather large and lavish hotel in Miami where the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security is scheduled to stay with his family. Little does she know that when she boards a plane home that his family, her father and her own life will be all in her hands!

It all begins when Lisa meets Jackson (Cillian Murphy) in the airport terminal and begins to become friends with the rather strange but intriguing character. When she takes her seat on the airplane she discovers him seated right next to her. He jokingly asks her if she's stalking him, in which she nervously replies "No", in actuality it's he who is stalking her. Jackson has been sent to get her to call the hotel and change the room the Deputy and his family will be staying in, it's all part of a plan to assassinate him and if Lisa refuses to comply her father be be the collateral damage.  

While Red Eye is rather predictable, I still found the plot and the characters very entertaining. I liked the fact the film takes no time opening the can of worms right away.  The two main characters are quickly introduced and in minutes we're in the thick of the story. Because of this the film has excellent flow, never once dragging on and sticking with a very suitable run-time. Acting wise complements are thoroughly due to Rachel McAdams, who as always, gives a great emotional performance clearly terrified out of her mind and still managing to look beautiful the entire film!  It's hard to believe she got her big film break as the stuck up girl in Mean Girls! Cillian Murphy is great as well, he has that serial killer look in general and only helps that he backs it up with a flawless performance, as he did in Batman Begins. 

As a highly entertaining thriller, Red Eye gets nothing higher than an 8 purely due to it's over-exaggerated scenes and predictability. Such scenes include Lisa head butting Jackson later in the film and suffering no injuries from it when previously in the film Jackson head butts her on the airplane and knocks her out! And the scene where Lisa is looking for Jackson in her father's house, and he ends up popping out from the most obvious area. In the end, I still highly recommend checking this out.  It's entertaining, enjoyable and one of my favorite thrillers.

8/10

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Sherlock Holmes (2009)

 Sherlock Holmes was with a doubt my most anticipated film of 2009.  The combination of Hollywood's new number one blockbuster star Robert Downey Jr., mixed with Jude Law, the lovely Rachel McAdams and the ability of Guy Ritchie to make a gritty version of Sherlock Holmes had me hopeful for one of the best action films of year.  Sadly while all those mentioned upon played their roles remarkably well Sherlock Holmes didn't live up to my possibly unattainable expectations, it's a good film but it's nothing great.

Unlike many of the recent Hollywood reboots Sherlock Holmes is not an origin based story.  We don't see the transformation of what lead Sherlock Holmes to become a brilliant detective, although that might have been a more interesting storyline.  No, we're introduced to Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his partner in investigation Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) as they complete their last case together, bringing to justice the murderous student of black magic Lord Blackwood.  But the capture of Blackwood is almost too seamless, an occurrence that even puzzles Sherlock Holmes.  Before his hanging Blackwood informs Holmes that his death is only the beginning and that he (Holmes) is a key player in what is to progress next, something Holmes will never be able to wrap his mind around.

With Blackwood dead and in the ground the duo of Holmes and Watson appears to be at an end, as Watson has plans to get married and start a family.  Sherlock Holmes is not too keen on losing his best friend and long time partner, trying to persuade him on multiple occassions to change his mind.  It's not until Blackwood fulfills his cryptic professions and appears to rise from his grave that it seems the duo will stick together a while longer.  At least as long as it takes to prevent Blackwood from carrying out his master plan of world domination!

Sherlock Holmes ranks among the worlds most well known literary characters and has been portrayed in some form on film since 1905's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  Guy Ritchie's exhibition is surely the most expensive, explosive and most action oriented of them all.  When I think of Sherlock Holmes, action star doesn't usually enter my mind, I've never been a big fan of the franchise in the past but I would assume that the character wasn't such a master in hand to hand combat.  So while most people seem to agree that this new aged version of Sherlock Holmes does mirror the original literary character, I doubt the action aspect of the film is anything but an add in, something I have absolutely no issues with it.  It's the action sequences combined with the actor's performances which keep the story alive, without them I could only imagine a normal tedious Sherlock Holmes story that's probably more tedious than most.

It's clearly the story that becomes the Sherlock Holmes main issue.  It's interesting to a point then quickly becomes rather routine and tedious.  After my viewing I can't help feeling Sherlock Holmes is only a high priced setup to something bigger and better, that being the inevitable sequel.  Why else would Ritchie continually tease us with the hooded character, whose identity is obvious from the beginning to any Sherlock Holmes layman and is finally revealed at the film's end?  The entire point of Rachel McAdams's character is even tied into this character, it's almost as if the sequel's being setup before the current film gets a fair shot!  I definitely believe this harms the development of Sherlock Holmes, when concentration seems to be placed more on setup the next film than making the current one it's own solid entry.

But while the story is mediocre, Sherlock Holmes is not a total waste, the film is really saved by it's excellent cast of leading actors.  Robert Downey Jr. once again gives a great performance as Sherlock Holmes a rather flamboyant and snooty version of Iron Man's Tony Stark.  Jude Law is a great right hand man as Dr. Watson, and as always my favorite was the lovely Rachel McAdams who plays Irene Adler, her first rather enticing and villainous role.  In the story reference is made to past encounters between Adler and Holmes and how she had been the only person to ever outsmart him on multiple occassions, I would have enjoyed seeing a storyline based around that, it would have definitely been more entertaining.

As for Blackwood play by Mark Strong, the character was sorely under utilized, lending him to be mysterious but also quite useless since he's never given an opportunity for any real character development.  Once again this is the fault of the writers who seemed more interested in other things.  All the real interesting things dealing with Blackwood seemed to again be referenced to (such as the history with Adler and Holmes) then the character is referred to more often in the film than he is actually seen.  Also a rather confusing aspect worth noting is that Irene Adler appears to be the girl being sacrificed by Blackwood in the opening scenes, yet none of the characters seem to acknowledge this later on when they meet again, I found that a little odd.

Overall, I think most people will be generally pleased with the experience Sherlock Holmes has to offer.  Personally I was a little let down, mainly by the story which I sincerely believe suffered because it's more a setup to the sequel than a stand alone film.  I have no problem with sequels and thoroughly expected there was already one in the works, but usually sequel setups are left for the end of the film, not progressed throughout the entire film!  It's almost as if the writers didn't have much confidence in what they had going for the first installment that they needed to throw in the building blocks for the second installment to hold people's interest or to even support the film.  But luckily everything else in about Sherlock Holmes is remarkably well done and manages to support a struggling story, let's just hope the sequel is truly worth the cork that was seemingly plugged into this first outing.

7/10

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State of Play (2009)

The political thriller genre continues to grow at an exponential rate with the latest release of State of Play, a film surrounding the not too implausible idea of political scandal and corruption within the ranks of congress. What sets this film apart from the numerous other political themed thrillers in recent memory is it's actually quite good.

State of Play marks Russell Crowe's second consecutive political thriller. As Cal McAffrey he's a newspaper reporter for the struggling Washington Post. A recent double murder of a young hoodlum and a pizza delivery boy within the dark alleys of Washington DC seems like another routine news day for McAffrey, but it's all part of a story that may actually become intertwined in a political scandal soon to rock the city. Ben Affleck plays Congressman Stephen Collins, an old college roommate and friend of McAffrey's whose life is turned upside down when it's discovered that his lead researcher in a legal case against a privately funded corporation mysteriously meets her demise at the hand of a speeding subway car. Rumor quickly leaks out that this woman was much more than a researcher for Collins but also his mistress, and that her death may possibly be linked to her romantic involvement with Collins.

With McAffrey having past ties with Collins, the Post's Chief Editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) looks to McAffrey for some news to break before everyone else, but he's not too quick to throw his old friend under the bus without any hard evidence. On the other hand newcomer and Washington Post blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) is already ahead of the game with her unbiased post on Collins's newly revealed affair which lacks the tack or factual knowledge to impress Cal McAffrey. This all leads McAffrey on a mission to discover the truth while at the same time stand up for his friend and write a story that he's proud to write because it's the truth. But as McAffrey and Frye begin to delve deeper into the the girl's history and her connection with Collins, McAffrey's quick to discover that keeping friends and writing good articles might not go hand in hand as their investigation quickly begins to appear more like a conspiracy with multiple key players.

After two rather disappointing attempts in political espionage with The International and Body of Lies, the thriller genre really needed a strong comeback to renew it, luckily State of Play manages to do that. Russell Crowe's performance in Body of Lies was limited to more of a minor role in a story that seemingly mirrored the below average film Blood Diamond, but this time around Russell regains a place in the driver's seat where he belongs and again reminds viewers why he's considered one of the best actors of our day. Crowe manages to make McAffrey a very likable character, using his charm and wit to has advantage as he masters the character's subtle humor and sarcasm, but also at the same time portraying the battle between friendship and career.

Rachel McAdams makes a much anticipated return (at least for me) to the big screen, putting forth her usual impressive performance as cub reporter Della Frye. Last time Rachel made a largely distributed feature film was 2005's The Family Stone, so it was nice to see one of my favorite actresses back on the big screen, and 2009 looks to be a big year for her as she's to be featured in two other films this year. Finally Ben Affleck, a name that makes me cringe every time I hear it in a film I want to see. It's no secret what I think of Affleck as an actor, he's horrible, but surprisingly enough he doesn't do much damage in this film. Is his performance any good? Not really, but thankfully he doesn't hurt the film too much. Personally I was disappointed when Edward Norton had to leave the film due to scheduling conflicts, had he been playing the Congressman instead of Affleck I'd probably be giving this film an even higher score.

Overall, State of Play is a nice addition to the political thriller genre. The film does a nice job of keeping you guessing about the outcome, and the performances by Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams and a couple of the other well known supporting cast members make this a film worth watching multiple times. I've never seen it's British equivalent so I can't compare how the two stack up, but I can say I found this Americanized version quite entertaining and one of my top favorites of the year so far.

8/10

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