STATE OF PLAY
Year: 2009
USA: Universal Studios
UK: Universal Pictures International UK
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, Michael Berresse, Harry Lennix, Josh Mostel, Michael Weston, Barry Shabaka Henley, Viola Davis, David Harbour, Sarah Lord, Tuck Milligan, Stephen Park, Brennan Brown, Maria Thayer, Wendy Makkena, Zoe Lister-Jones, Michael Jace, Rob Benedict, Ladell Preston, Dan Brown, Katy Mixon, Shane Edelman, Maurice Burnice Harcum, Cornell Womack, Nat Benchley, Gregg Binkley, Trula Marcus, Carolyn Barrett, Wil Love, David Copeland Goodman, John Badila, Brigid Cleary
Director: Kevin MacDonald
Countries: USA / UK
USA: 127 mins
UK: 125 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for some violence, language including sexual references, and brief drug content
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate violence and one use of strong language
USA Release Date: 17 April 2009
UK Release Date: 24 April 2009
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Synopsis
In the chess match of Beltway politics, there is constant manoeuvring between two worthy teams: politicians who seek to retain their positions of influence and journalists out to uncover corruption that accompanies unchecked power. What binds the opponents is their need for each other. And assassination - whether of a character or a life - is sometimes a means to their endgame.
Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast in a blistering thriller about a rising congressman and an investigative journalist embroiled in a case of seemingly unrelated homicides. Crowe plays Cal McAffrey, a veteran DC reporter whose unyielding determination leads him to untangle a mystery of murder and collusion among some of the nation's most promising political and corporate figures.
Ambitious, unflappable US Congressman Stephen Collins Ben Affleck, is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. High hopes are pinned to this rising star to become a leading national figure - until his beautiful young staff assistant dies tragically and buried secrets come tumbling out.
McAffrey has the dubious fortune of having both an old friendship with Collins and a tough-as-nails editor, Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren), who has assigned him to investigate the story. As he and novice partner Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) try to uncover the killer's identity, McAffrey steps into a cover-up that threatens to shake the nation's power structures. In a town of spin doctors and wealthy politicos, he will discover one truth: When billions are at stake, no one's integrity is beyond question.
Directed by Kevin MacDonald (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND), STATE OF PLAY co-stars Robin Wright Penn as Stephen Collins' loyal wife, Anne; Jason Bateman as manipulative public relations executive Dominic Foy; and Jeff Daniels as George Fergus, a powerful senator with the reputation of his party on the line.