There's a scene in "State of Play" where an unkempt, hard-nosed veteran reporter (Russell Crowe) — you know, the type who drink their whiskey straight, out of a paper cup — meets his new colleague, a younger, perkier journalist (Rachel McAdams) who bangs out gossipy blogs for their newspaper's digital edition.
The reporter's old college buddy (Ben Affleck), now an earnest crusading congressman , has been implicated in a sex scandal, and the blogger is obviously fishing for some inside info. The vet bristles, but the blogger pleads: "I'm just trying to get a little context." To which the reporter fires back, "By 'context,' you mean 'dirt'?"
The tension between old-school, feet-on-the-ground, attribute-your-quotes reporting and new-school, speed-over-accuracy, innuendo-friendly blogging is at the heart of this film. And "State of Play" is a clever, complex thriller, pitting scrappy reporters vs. a vast, shadowy conspiracy of the rich and powerful. If you've seen any films by its screenwriters, Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton") and Matthew Michael Carnahan ("Lions for Lambs"), then you'll know what to expect. But beyond the crime and coverup, this is practically an elegy to an era.