State of Play

The usual suspects called this morning to say that they had canceled their out-of-town because their mother-in-law wasn't feeling well. Did I want to go with them and see what Odeon, the local English-language movie theater, had on offer? It was called "State of Play", some sort of political thriller.

I haven't been to the movies in ages, been working too hard. So I said yes first, and then looked up the blurb on the movie site. Okay, reporter-politician-young girl dies-intrigue. I switched watches to my read-in-the-dark glowing binary watch, just in case it was boring and I needed to figure out how long I had to stand the movie.

I didn't check. Not once.

Man, this story is full of suspense, scary (although nothing is happening, but we know the killer is just around the corner, very Hitchcock-esque). I don't want to give it away, except to say that the plot is complicated, but logical. There's a tad of romantic suspense mixed in, and Helen Mirren as the Anti-Queen, ice cold and cussing up a storm, is just superb. The sweet young cub reporter does indeed have a bit too much of the deer-eyed look, but it is funny that this is commented on a few times during the film.

The film is very reminiscient of "All the President's Men", about Woodward and Bernstein digging up the Watergate scandal. And indeed, one of the fake offices is in the Watergate building, as if to hit you over the head with a 2-by-4 in case you didn't get it. There is even a meeting with a Deep Throat....

And at the end, as the papers are printed, you follow the entire way from the "send" button to the truck driving out of the bay full of papers carrying the story (but there is too much light out there, it should have still been night, minor goof). This is cool, as WiseMan and I just visited the printing presses in Berlin a few weeks ago.

Any relationship between PointCorp (in the movie) and Blackwater (the company getting rich on the Iraq war) are probably purely coincidental. And as is pointed out by one of the figures - having a private company do homeland security is a very, very bad idea.

So this is a must-see film, thanks for pushing me, gang!