Roger and me about “State”

Roger Ebert and I have had our differences (none that he has known about), but this latest is major.  It’s how we feel about R. Crowe’s latest movie, now at Lake on Lake in Oak Park and many other places.  The movie, with an utterly forgettable name, “State of Play,”  taken from the BBC mini-series which it represents as feature film, is direct and to the point, without:

* sex, i.e. extended face-eating scenes and titillating nudity

* big-bosomed (I mean big) open-necked smart-ass females (rather, smart, small-bosomed, big-eyed, engaging but not cleaved at chest area)

* blood, including instant hole in forehead of bad or good guy plugged from near or far

* the word “fuck” and its derivatives

* time and screen space wasted on stuff that doesn’t spell out character or move ahead action, leading to periods of squirming in seat

* lingering by camera on every dot and blemish or blank-staring face of one or more DRAMATIC characters, leading to periods of squirming in seat.

And with:

* smart dialog, as Helen Mirren: “Don’t look at me like Bambi the cub reporter looking for a break” (or something like it: Mirren never better here, far better than the alcoholic moon face she adopts as that hyper-serious, hyper-conflicted detective inspector on British TV)

* characters credible enough to keep you wondering, not worrying (got my own worries, thank you) what will happen to them

* background sound that does not make you think this is a musical

* plot twists and turns that leave you (left me) trying to figure it out, not deprived but amused by the noodling.

Go see “State,” which is PG-13 and is an elegy in part (here Ebert and I coincide) to newspapers as we know them, but unfortunately gives homage to leftist conspiracy-thinking and Rupert Murdoch as unreliable, as in the bought bar girls’ testimony splashed on P-1 of the NY Post (briefly, but can’t be missed).

Why beef with Ebert (and the Chi Trib man)?  Because I loved the picture and he (they) merely liked it.  Reason enough!

Later: Another notable leftist tint was given by the ex-GI-gone-wild theme and major character: Rambo as nut case, a thoroughly unsympathetic villainous individual.