Ben Affleck

Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck Bring Spark to Mediocre ‘State of Play’

BrianTT — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:21:24 -0600

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – I’ll be the first critic to tell you that they don’t make adult thrillers often enough. I was very disappointed by the lackluster box office take of Tony Gilroy’s ” Duplicity”. But does that mean that we should give all intellectual mysteries a pass? Of course not. And while I want to love Kevin Macdonald’s “State of Play,” a few poor decisions during production keep it back from being the excellent film it could have been.

It’s even easier to see where “State of Play” went wrong than with most so-so movies because we have the original, amazing BBC mini-series for comparison. Of course, Macdonald couldn’t be expected to duplicate what was accomplished in six hours with only two, but the decisions made in the truncation were not always the smartest ones. And, perhaps, someone should have considered that the lengthy original could never have been adequately condensed into two hours.

Russell Crowe as reporter Cal McAffrey.
Photo credit: Glen Wilson and Universal Pictures

Before you say that this version should be judged on its own, I can’t rewrite history and change the fact that I’ve seen (and adored) the original. I know what “State of Play” could have been. And many of the flaws of this version are amplified by their absence in the source material. Essentially, work that was “all grays” has, often by the necessity of length, had its shading removed and become purely black and white.

One thing can be said about “State of Play” for certain - it’s not slow. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not boring but the actual plot moves at 100 miles per hour. Don’t show up late for this one.

In the opening scenes, a junkie is shot and an innocent bystander takes another bullet when he happens to witness the first execution. Shortly thereafter, a rising Congressman’s aide, Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer) is going to work when she ends up on the track and not the platform of high-speeding public transportation.

Old-fashioned reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) gets the junkie case and rising star Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) lands the Congressman’s aide story after it’s revealed that her boss, Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), was sleeping with his head researcher. It turns out the Collins and Baker were working together on a major hearing involving a Halliburton-esque company when they started up an affair. Could the company have been involved in her accident? Or the Congressman? What about the Congressman’s wife (Robin Wright Penn)?

Things get really complicated when it turns out that Cal’s shooting and Sonia’s accident are related. The fact that Cal is old friends with Collins both helps and hurts the investigation by both the journalists and the cops. Helen Mirren plays the editor.

Newspaper editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) questions reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe).
Photo credit: Glen Wilson and Universal Pictures

There’s not a false performance in “State of Play” and anyone who likes it will do so because of the great ensemble. At first, I wasn’t sure about Crowe’s paunch (not quite as big as “Body of Lies” but not far off) and the low-key nature of his performance, but it works. He’s in nearly every scene in the movie and, as usual, he delivers. Affleck is great too, proving that the string of smart decisions he’s made lately - “Hollywoodland,” “Gone Baby Gone” - were no fluke.

Jeff Daniels and Jason Bateman are also great in small roles, and Helen Mirren could make anything interesting, even if she isn’t given nearly enough of the great material that won Bill Nighy awards for the same part in the BBC original. Only McAdams feels miscast, but almost all of her moments are exposition, pushing the speeding plot forward..

Great cast? Check. Great writers? You can’t do much better than Matthew Michael Carnahan (“The Kingdom”), Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”), and Billy Ray (“Shattered Glass”). But they make some regrettable choices. The final act is a particular mess with the breakneck pace turned up to eleven. There are confessions and revelations that come so quickly that they feel like actors working towards a final scene more than anything organic. It feels rushed.

Probably because it is. And that rushing misses something about the story. The heart of the BBC original was about how the world of journalism and politics have become intertwined. The lines between the people covering politicians and the lawmakers themselves have become blurry at best. They’re too defined in the US “State of Play”. This is just another story of the white knight of journalism versus the corruption of big business. Of course, as a writer, I’m tempted to say there can’t be too many of those, but it doesn’t have the impact of something deeper.

Ultimately, “State of Play” is a well-made, well-paced thriller, but it’s ultimately merely so-so. It’s an average thriller that falls below the median when compared to the spectacular original. People who agree that there aren’t nearly enough adult thrillers will find a lot to like here but even people haven’t seen the original will sense there could have been more.

‘State of Play’ stars Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, Jason Bateman, and Robin Wright Penn. It was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, and Billy Ray and directed by Kevin Macdonald. It opens on April 17th, 2009. It is rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Ginnifer Goodwin Nearly Save ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’

BrianTT — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:01:00 -0700

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – If you’ve ever been speed dating or even just on a series of dates in a short period of time, it’s not that different from the back and forth between good and bad in the latest romantic comedy, “He’s Just Not That Into You,” a mixed bag of cliches, comedy, coincidences, and cute coupling starring Jennifer Aniston, Ginnifer Goodwin, and many, many more.

Just recapping the “Short Cuts”-esque plot of “He’s Just Not That Into You” practically requires a flow chart to keep track of all the characters and how they are coincidentally related or hooked up. The film is narrated by and most of the characters spiral off of Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), a poor woman stuck in the cliches of dating that we’re taught from an early age like “he’s mean to you because he likes you” and “don’t call him, he’ll call you.”

Justin Long stars as Alex and Ginnifer Goodwin stars as Gigi.
Photo credit: Darren Michaels/New Line

Gigi is cute but also pretty damaged by a string of dates that went nowhere and men who never called her back. After a good first date with real estate agent Conor (Kevin Connolly), Gigi obsessively watches the phone and goes as far as dropping by Conor’s regular hang-out just to see if he’s there.

As his bar-managing friend Alex (Justin Long) brutally tells poor Gigi, he’s just not that into her. Of course, being a romantic comedy, it’s only a matter of time before the callous Alex falls head over heels for sweet Gigi.

The story of Gigi and Alex may be enough for one romantic comedy, but it’s just the tip of the candy-covered heart in “He’s Just Not That Into You”. The reason Conor wasn’t into Gigi is because he still loves Anna (Scarlett Johansson). Anna runs into the married Ben (Bradley Cooper) at the convenience store and the two start a dangerous flirtation.

Ben is married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly), who happens to work with Gigi. Ben is also good friends with Neil (Ben Affleck), the longtime boyfriend of Beth (Jennifer Aniston), who ALSO happens to work with Gigi and Janine. The pile-up of coincidental characters is one of the biggest failings of the script for “He’s Just Not That Into You”. I longed for a major character who wasn’t one degree of separation from every other major character.

When her younger sister announces her engagement and Gigi convinces her that Neil will never propose, Beth kicks her man out of the house. Meanwhile, a friend of Anna’s named Mary (Drew Barrymore) bemoans the loss of personal contact in a world of MySpace, Facebook, and instant messaging.

Scarlett Johansson stars as Anna and Bradley Cooper stars as Ben.
Photo credit: New Line

Even with its overly complicated plot, there are elements of “He’s Just Not That Into You” that completely work.

First and foremost, it’s refreshing to see a romantic comedy that doesn’t rely on pratfalls, bodily humor, or montages set to the latest pop tune. There’s a conscious attempt to avoid those kind of cliches in the script for “He’s Just Not That Into You” by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein and it’s nice to see a romantic comedy with people you actually root for unlike the hateful jerks or morons that usually populate the genre in films like “What Happens in Vegas,”“Fool’s Gold,” or the entire filmography of Dane Cook

It’s also interesting to see genuinely talented actors trying to inject two-dimensional characters with a bit of realism. Goodwin, Affleck, and Aniston all give interesting, likable performances. As for the rest of the cast, Cooper isn’t bad, but his role doesn’t feel believable, serving more as a plot catalyst for the two women he impacts with his stupid choices than a real person. Most surprisingly, Connelly seems lost, unable to figure this character out.

What holds back “He’s Just Not That Into You” is a lack of pacing by director Ken Kwapis and his writers. No romantic comedy ever needs to run nearly 130 minutes long and Kwapis pitches the whole film at the same tone. There’s a surprising lack of rising action.

There’s also an unusual emotion that “He’s Just Not That Into You” is more likely to produce than romance - depression. Are we really all so driven to find love that we make the same stupid mistakes over and over again? “He’s Just Not That Into You” should have been more fun. Believe it or not, people do actually get together without so much angst.

And this ensemble, despite some beautiful people in its cast, is surprisingly un-sexy in plot and tone. These people may be obsessed with dating, but it’s hard to believe they know what to do after a few dates.

With all of that in mind, romantic comedy fans could still do a lot worse than “He’s Just Not That Into You”. With some good performances and conscious avoidance of a lot of the trappings of the genre, audiences are likely to fall for this romantic comedy, even if they don’t feel good about it in the morning.

‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ stars Ben Affleck, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Connolly, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper, Drew Barrymore, and Justin Long. It was written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, and directed by Ken Kwapis. It opens on February 6th, 2009, and is rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

In ‘Gone Baby Gone’ Directorial Debut, Ben Affleck Matures Into Polished Auteur

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:01:23 -0600

CHICAGO – It wasn’t that long ago when Ben Affleck was an unknown. Fortune eventually smiled upon him and along came quality performances in independents and an Academy Award for screenwriting.

Ben Affleck (left) and brother Casey Affleck on Oct. 10, 2007 at the
Chicago International Film Festival premiere of “Gone Baby Gone”.
Photo by Adam Fendelman of HollywoodChicago.com
Then came “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and a series of nauseating tabloid stories involving something called “Bennifer”. Affleck’s public image as either a true filmmaker or a hack is riding heavily on his directorial debut of “Gone Baby Gone”.

Without fail, he falls easily into the category of true talent. Following the path that fellow actor-turned-director Clint Eastwood did with “Mystic River,” Affleck elevated a crime thriller by author Dennis Lehane to the big screen.

Unlike directors and actors like Eastwood, Spike Lee, Woody Allen and even close friend Kevin Smith, Affleck resided solely behind the camera and instead cast brother Casey Affleck in the film’s principal role.

Casey Affleck in “Gone Baby Gone”.
Photo courtesy of IMDb
Most people will watch “Gone Baby Gone” to see if Ben Affleck is capable in the director’s chair. Moreover, he declares his rightful place as an auteur with his own artistic vision and storytelling ability.

Simplifying the complex maze of corruption that is Lehane’s fourth novel in a series on Boston detectives, “Gone Baby Gone” follows Patrick Kenzie’s (Casey Affleck) private investigation into the disappearance of an adorable, 4-year-old girl from a white-trash addict (Amy Ryan).

She won’t be winning the mother-of-the-year award any time soon. Kenzie gets cooperation from the Boston Police Department and plays an outsider who only can rely on help from his partner and girlfriend (played remarkably by Michelle Monaghan).

As Lehane’s characters are adapted beautifully for the screen by Ben Affleck and co-writer Aaron Stockard, there are bottomless depths of emotional turmoil to every person in this picture.

Ben Affleck directing “Gone Baby Gone”.
The loss of an innocent girl and Ryan’s portrayal of the crackhead mom you both love and hate make you want to throw things at the screen for such despicable human behavior. Ed Harris plays a local detective and masterfully devours all of his scenes.

Morgan Freeman plays the chief of police just like you think Morgan Freeman would play a police chief.

More than just showing promise, Affleck’s directorial debut promises great things for his future as a filmmaker. More than just your typical detective mystery flick, the film leaves many unanswered ethical questions.

More than so “Mystic River,” “Gone Baby Gone” is a heart-wrenching thriller of people you love to watch but would never want to meet in real life.

By DUSTIN LEVELL
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
dustin@hollywoodchicago.com