'State of Play'

There is a rich tradition in film of taking a political thriller and putting it squarely in the cross hairs of an investigative journalist -- think "All the President's Men," "The Killing Fields" and "The Year of Living Dangerously." "State of Play" definitely wants to join that crowd, and with a cast headed by Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren, you'd expect all the stars to align.

Yet instead of another classic, what director Kevin Macdonald has given us is a meandering movie that sometimes hits dead center and sometimes misfires dismally, resulting in a drama more tangled than taut.

There are all sorts of reasons why this particular intersection is such an intriguing one to filmmakers: the stakes are always high, whether it's lives or a country's future on the line; the DNA of investigative journalists is not unlike a Michael Vick pit bull -- they are programmed to go for the kill; nothing is ever quite as it seems, which, with luck, keeps us guessing until the final denouement; and there is that precious high moral ground that flawed humans are clawing to take.

Inspired (and, if you've seen it, overshadowed) by the exceedingly fine 2003 BBC miniseries, the film is set in Washington in what feels like the later days of the Bush administration when disillusionment was running high and a fresh-faced congressman with a fistful of integrity could make a mark. Two seemingly unrelated murders jump-start the action, at least one coming with a juicy, and familiar, Beltway back story: beautiful young aide involved with her married boss -- Affleck as Congressman Stephen Collins, whose rapid ascent on the back of a congressional hearing into corporate high jinks just might be derailed now.

Collins' old college roommate, Cal McAffrey (Crowe), is a hard-boiled investigative reporter now with a Washington Post-styled newspaper, madly trying to crack the case before the cops or the competition. In short order, it's hard to tell whether Collins is more valuable to McAffrey as his friend or as an extremely well-placed source.

Though there are many players in keeping with Washington's legions of the self-interested, the narrative circles around three -- the beefy and unkempt veteran journalist (does Hollywood create any other kind?), the polished-to-a-high-sheen politico and a newspaper industry, like the politician, fighting for its life.