All the president's journalists

Many critics have been comparing “State of Play” to “All the President’s Men,” and not because it lives up to those standards.

But it’s about as close as they can get, so that’s got to be worth something.

Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is a veteran journalist working in Washington. He knows everyone and has all the inside sources. His latest story is on an inner-city murder, which he soon believes is tied to the supposed suicide of an aide to Sen. Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck).

To get to the bottom of his investigation, Cal teams up with young blogger hotshot Della Frye (Rachel McAdams).

“State of Play” doesn’t try to be purely journalistic, given that we don’t know the outcome as we did in “All the President’s Men.” But the film puts so much effort and detail not into the outcome itself, but how it got there.

Consequently, the suspenseful build up is much greater.

The film works its way through its complex and hectic plot to provide us with a satisfying conclusion before adding one last, equally effective. If you’ve already let out your sigh of relief, believing to be at the end of the film, do not fear the additional material. Co-writer Tony Gilroy’s extra twist at the end of “Duplicity” turned it from bad to worse, but this one works just fine.

What also propels the plot are the performances. Crowe is solid as usual, and McAdams’s bright charm doesn’t detract from her maturity. And while Affleck is certainly the weak link in the cast, he’s not as bad as other critics have made him out to be.

“State of Play” is a brainy, intricate drama that is plenty suspenseful and has a cast that carries the film with speed and finesse.

Most importantly, though, it’s thrilling and entertaining in a season of films for which the same can’t be said.