State of Play

"Find the truth"

2009 2h 7m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🍅

84%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 2,227🍅84%Rotten Tomatoes●64Metacritic★7.1IMDB · 164,725

ThrillerCrimeMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.

“Find the truth”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Russell Crowe
Cal McAffrey
Ben Affleck
Stephen Collins
Rachel McAdams
Della Frye
Helen Mirren
Cameron Lynne
Robin Wright
Anne Collins
Jason Bateman
Dominic Foy
Jeff Daniels
George Fergus
Michael Berresse
Robert Bingham

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Writers: Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray, Matthew Michael Carnahan
Languages: English, Cantonese, French
Countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Cantonese, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

300+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Kevin Macdonald, shot by Rodrigo Prieto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alex Heffes. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Justine Wright shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kevin Macdonald directs. Rodrigo Prieto behind the camera. Alex Heffes scores. Justine Wright cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in France, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English, Cantonese, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $60M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released 17 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Cantonese, French.
4International production across 3 countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America.
5300+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Kevin Macdonald, shot by Rodrigo Prieto. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Alex Heffes. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Justine Wright shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Find the truth".
11IMDB entry: tt0473705 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 18 themes, including "newspaper", "journalist", "assassin", "assassination".

The technical file

Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto
Original score: Alex Heffes
Editing: Justine Wright
Production design: Mark Friedberg
Costume design: Jacqueline West
Makeup / hair: Felicity Bowring
VFX supervisor: Bob Mercier
Sound: Skip Lievsay
Stunt coordinator: Doug Coleman
Runtime: 127 min · 2h 7m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $60,000,000
Box office: $87,800,000
Return: 146% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: State of Play (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes: 84% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 64/100
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 164,725 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

2 wins & 4 nominations total

Also by

Kevin Macdonald

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2013-10-25
★ 8/10
Good movie, great cast and interesting plot. A movies as they used to be when interesting thrillers were on the screens with higher frequency.
Peter McGinn2021-07-25
★ 6/10
This movie follows a familiar subset of the thriller genre, that of the journalist investigating a story and discovering there is more involved than what meets the eye, and before he knows it there is evidence of a conspiracy stretching high into government. How high? Well, that of course varies from one conspiracy movie to the next. I couldn’t help but notice that one of the methods of death early on here was later borrowed by the series House of Cards (U.S. version). But there are only so many ways of making possible murders look like accidents or suicides, so perhaps it was coincidental. The acting and the writing were fine, however familiar the story seemed. It just felt like it wouldn’t have taken much originality to alter the plot to separate it from all the other journalistic investigations of government corruption.
Dr Nostromo2026-04-30
★ 8/10
78/100 Two reporters working on seemingly unrelated stories discover they're connected in a big way reaching well into the halls of congress. This is an exciting political thriller that maintains its intensity throughout despite being devoid of any sort of action to speak of. An exceptional all-star cast, you'd be hard pressed to see someone you didn't recognize. It's biggest strength is its ability to present an amazingly complex and ever evolving story without once losing the viewer with fantastic writing and acting. Best of its kind since "All the President's Men", imo. -- DrNostromo.com