MY THEATRICAL REVIEW: Click Here
QUICK THOUGHTS: State of Play received a wealth of great reviews from critics with an 85% RottenTomatoes score, but many attribute that to the film’s kind treatment of news in print. The film isn’t one I would necessarily call great as it fits very nicely into the “B-” range I gave it during its theatrical release. The problem is evident, even while watching the making of feature included with this release as they talk about how they tried to cut down the 6-hour BBC series into a two-hour feature film. Unfortunately they didn’t streamline it enough and in the end just wanted to have too many twists and turns to tie up in a very short time span. Had a few of the dangling plot threads been nixed this really could have been a tightly wound thriller that could have come in around 105 minutes.
It’s not a complete loss, however. I like Russell Crowe in this film as he plays a newspaper heavyweight in the office as well as occasionally gets pushed around when out of his element. The scene in the parking garage is worth the watch alone. Also, hearing Russell Crowe ask Helen Mirren when her balls were chopped off is a nice addition.
SUPPLEMENTS: In terms of extra material you get a pair of deleted scenes, a 19-minute making of featurette and a couple of U-Control Blu-ray exclusive features.
The U-Control features consist of a picture-in-picture feature that takes the 18-minute featurette and adds a few things to it such as set walk-throughs. Second is the D.C. Locations pop-up feature, which shows viewers where exactly in D.C. specific scenes are taking place using Google Maps and offers up some information on the location. Overall, the supplements are rather weak, but I didn’t expect much considering this film never really lived up to its potential.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Rent it.
MY THEATRICAL REVIEW: Click Here
QUICK THOUGHTS: After its first day of box-office returns were estimated this one was pegged as a $45 million earner. It went on to make just over $40 million domestically and along with many other films starring A-list stars had people wondering if the age of the movie star had come to an end. Perhaps it has, and while I still stick to my first-time viewing of Duplicity as a fun watch, the rewatchability of this film is zero.
One of my largest complaints with this movie the first time I saw it was its continued use of flashbacks and the second time around they are even more annoying since you already know where the story is leading. The flashbacks do nothing but offer audience hints to put the entire puzzle together. The second time you watch it’s just wasted running time.
SUPPLEMENTS: Almost a bare bones release here with an audio commentary with writer/director Tony Gilroy and editor John Gilroy serving as the lone feature. Unfortunately what they have to say isn’t all that interesting either. We learn George Clooney suggested Clive Owen for the film, Paul Giamatti was a late replacement and, probably most importantly, the opening scene in Dubai was originally not part of the film. Tony Gilroy said without that scene the audience really had to “pay attention” to know what was going on. Oh no, we wouldn’t want that! If I have to pay attention how will I stuff this handful of popcorn and candy in my pie hole?
FINAL THOUGHTS: Rent it once, you won’t need to see it ever again after that.
