BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

This is a gripping four-star BBC production for the political-journalism junky. You even get a bit of a police investigation element tossed in as a bonus.

Watching it is like reading a book that you can't put down.

In terms of storytelling, the driving force is a team of journalists for a fictional paper in London called "The Herald" who investigate two seemingly unrelated deaths, one of them being a young female research assistant for an MP.

A lot of the glowing reviews we read give away too much of the story, so suffice it to say "State of Play" combines the fast-pace of "All the President's Men" with the descent into corruption of "Michael Clayton."

But being a BBC production, "State of Play" is as much about the revelation of character as it is about chasing a story that may or may not lead anywhere as it unfolds, but neatly wraps together in the end.

For BuzzFlash readers, it should be noted that the evil oil companies even make an appearance as the plot unfolds. It's got everything and is directed and written with care and -- of course -- suspense.

The acting is up to the usual BBC standards, with a confident, solid crew that keep the plot moving at a brisk pace over six episodes that last 350 minutes. Our attention never lagged once from the first scene.

As one online reviewer noted:

The cast is large, and there's any number of sub-plots, but the writing and directing (David Yates) are so skillful and the characters so distinctive that it's no problem to keep track of everything. Paying close attention to detail is a must; some clues are dropped in with diabolical subtlety. The denouement and resolution hit all the right notes: the protagonists' ultimate victory comes at a huge personal cost. The closing shot in particular is just aces.

With such strong material, the cast has to be at the top of their game, and it's a testament to the quality of this series that there's not one weak performance in the lot. Morrissey achieves just the right mix of unlikeable and sympathetic, playing a man who seems to have willfully screwed up his life; Walker is particularly sharp as his wounded, angry wife. The team of journalists has terrific rapport and camaraderie, an intelligent, warm, likable bunch, led by their acerbic editor, Cameron Foster (Bill Nighy, simply brilliant). Foster's scenes facing off against the local DCI (Philip Glenister) are especially fun. Marc Warren has a great turn as an unsavory witness/ suspect in the two deaths; James McAvoy does strong work as a freelance reporter with something to prove. There are dozens of excellent performances among the third and fourth tier players, and even the one-shot walk-on characters are cast with admirable care.

Special praise is due to John Simm for his outstanding work as Cal McCaffrey. Cal is the heart of the story, its most sympathetic character, the guy viewers will instinctively root for--even when he does something incredibly stupid, it's impossible not to like him, to want things to work out for him. Simm gives the character all sorts of tics and quirks and layers; he plays beautifully off the other actors; he's a presence even when he's not doing anything in particular. It's just a wonderful, wonderful performance, a standout even in this uniformly stellar cast.

For icing on the cake, there's some eye-catching visuals, and the soundtrack has an edgy, urban vibe. If the multitude of accents and Brit-slang proves too much, one can flip on the handy subtitles.

Additional BuzzFlash Note:

One of our favorite performances in "State of Play" is by Kelly MacDonald, who won an Emmy for her role in "The Girl in the Cafe." She has a thick Scottish accent that is sympathetic, beguiling and just lovely to listen to.

"State of Play," which ran as a BBC mini-series, is now being made into a movie with Helen Mirren, Russel Crowe and Ben Affleck, but as much as we love Mirren, we can't imagine it being more compelling than the original BBC production.

This "State of Play" is so strong that it's hard to imagine how one could make it better.

Disc #1 -- State of Play
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Disc #2 -- State of Play
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BUZZFLASH REVIEWS