Today I have a great experience at the movies. I dragged Jessica kicking and screaming to see State of Play, a thriller that is set in the world modern world of newspapers.
State of Play stars Russell Crowe as a rumpled reporter looking for facts in a story that concerns some dead people, a congressman (Ben Affleck) he happens to have been friends with, a political sex scandal, a private agency of mercenaries potentially replacing homeland security, and probably a few other things that I’m forgetting. There’s a lot going on here, people. Certainly enough to jam into its two hours and 12 minute running time.
Crowe is teamed up with his papers online reporter (Rachel McAdams), who he naturally does not really respect. After all she is a BLOGGER! Honestly it does ring true, especially with the decline of the newspaper business as a whole. One of the aspects of State of Play that I enjoyed was the fact that they acknowledge that the paper is dying out and sometime soon the Rachel McAdams of the world will be the heroic rumpled reporters in future stories.
State of Play is a movie that more than delivers on its promises. There’s a great story here, well played by everyone (including Helen Mirren as the Editor in Chief, Jeff Daniels as another congressman, and Jason Bateman as a weasely guy who knows something about what’s going on), and a great job by director Kevin Mcdonald to take this big mess and make it all easy to follow. The thrills actually thrill here. Novel idea, really.
I am not the first person to heap praise on this movie. In fact State of Play has a very impressive 85% fresh rating on rottentomatoes.com, the website that gives scores to films to reflect the critical reception. State of Play cost $60 million to produce and after three weeks of release is currently sitting in 10th place as I type this out. It has grossed $30 million and will not break even when it is all said and done.
To me this almost feels like another nail in the coffin for the adult (not porno!) minded movie. Movies today seem to be aiming mainly at that Gen Y demographic and younger. It’s less cinematic art and storytelling as it is amusement park rides and nonsense.
Consider that if you took all the movies that debuted at number one at the box office and averaged it out, the rottentomatoes score would be 42%. And no, this does not include this week’s number movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which would drop lower once you averaged in it’s ugly 37% fresh rating.
What are the successes we’ve had in 2009 at the box office? Let’s look first at Paul Blart: Mall Cop which took in $145 million at the box office, has a 31% fresh rating. Other box office hits in 2009 include Fast & Furious ($149 million, 28%), Knowing ($77 million, 34% fresh), Friday the 13th ($65 million, 26% fresh), and current ly in the top ten is Obsessed ($47 million, 20% fresh), and 17 Again ($48 million, 56% fresh).
On paper a movie like Watchman ($107 million, 64% fresh) seems like a good case for the idea that a smart, well made movie (yes that is my opinion of Watchmen) can be a hit. But once you consider that this was a film that opened big with $55 million in it’s opening and barely crossed the coveted $100 million mark AND it’s way too high budget of $150 million and you realize that this type of film is a gamble that Hollywood will now NOT make in the future.
State of Play now can be added to the list of Hollywood films that tried to appeal to a grown up audience and found there were no grown ups left out there. Add this to the list of films of 2009 that have been ignored like Adventureland ($15 million, 88% fresh), Duplicity ($40 million, 67% fresh), and Sunshine Cleaning ($10 million, 71% fresh).
I will still head out to the theaters each weekend, since it is my favorite thing to do. I will still hold out hope that Hollywood (or someone) keeps making quality movies that will appeal to adults. And I hope that eventually people will start showing up to see them.
