State of Play

No one seems to know whether she jumped or was pushed. But the crazy camerawork and screeching on the soundtrack don't leave much to the imagination: Freddy Krueger did it. Regardless, Collins is in trouble. The world is now talking about his extramarital love instead of the nasty contractor. And his beautiful, beleaguered wife (Robin Wright Penn) has to stand by him during the press conference.

The only person able to help is Cal McCaffrey (Russell Crowe), Collins's college roommate who happens to be a big-deal investigative reporter for the Washington Globe. For some reason, it's Cal who advises the congressman on how to spin this story in his favor. For instance, put the mistress's last lovey-dovey camera-phone message on YouTube. Why pay for Capitol staffers at all?

Cal has devoted his career to getting at the truth - sorry, The Truth. This time he puts his career on the line to get at what Stephen Colbert might refer to as the ultimate truthiness. Of course, Cal's intimate connection to Mr. and Mrs. Collins amounts to what's typically called a conflict of interest. But Cal's imperious English editor (Helen Mirren) doesn't seem to dwell on that. She's under pressure from the new corporate ownership to print more sizzling stories. Furthermore, The Truth doesn't care about such ethical dilemmas. Neither does this brand of overripe, over-plotted suspense.

"State of Play" has been condensed and recontextualized from a nearly six-hour 2003 BBC miniseries. A sheen of British toniness increased the shock value of the tawdrier developments (how could someone with such crisp diction do that?). The American version uses a screenplay patched together from the contributions of the credited writers - Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton," "Duplicity"), Matthew Michael Carnahan ("Lions for Lambs," "The Kingdom"), and Billy Ray ("Shattered Glass," "Breach"). The result is like an expensive video-store shelf devoted to high-level venality.