Metacritic Movie Ratings
State of Play Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 91

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  Spins a thorny tale of political corruption laced with personal sleaze.

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• 75

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  Intelligent and engrossing saga.

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• 75

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  The movie never quite attains altitude. It has a great takeoff, levels nicely, and then seems to land on autopilot. Maybe it's the problem of resolving so much plot in a finite length of time, but it seems a little too facile toward the end.

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• 70

  out of 100

  VarietyTodd McCarthy

  In the end, though, it's Crowe who must carry the most freight, which he does with another characterization to relish. Still bulky, although not as much so as in "Body of Lies," long-tressed and somewhat grizzled, he finds the gist of the affable eccentricity, natural obsessiveness and mainstream contrarianism that marks many professional journalists.

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• 50

  out of 100

  Los Angeles Times

  Somehow when State of Play should be at its stomach-clenching best, the tension simply evaporates.

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• 50

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt

  There is nothing we haven't seen here before in terms of chases, intrigue and betrayals, so for all its A-list cast and production values, the film comes off as routine.

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• 40

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  A superficially clever, self-important and finally incoherent thriller.

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• 40

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern

  There's simply too much stuff for a two-hour feature, and three writers, including Tony Gilroy, haven't figured out how to boil it down into a readily comprehensible narrative, or how to solve the problem of an ending that goes blah rather than bang.

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See all State of Play movie reviews at Metacritic.com