State of Play

This is a great political thriller. Russell Crowe does a fantastic job portraying Cal McAffrey, an old school reporter at the Washington Globe. Joined by a younger, blog-loving journalist played by Rachel McAdams (from Wedding Crashers), they team up to investigate the mysterious killing of Sonia Baker, a congressional aide to Rep. Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). Jeff Daniels has a solid performance as Rep George Ferguson. There are several plot layers which makes the movie a thought-provoking look at the relationship between politicians, corporations, and journalists.