Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

firewalking Just bought and watched this on DVD. Up until the last episode I was enthralled with the story.The mixture of journalism, politics and police work made for an interesting mix, although the latter two took more of a back seat nearing the end, replaced with lover's quarrels and artificial exposition more similar to soap opera writing. While the cinematography is fairly average, the casting and acting is superb.If you want a suspenseful thriller this one should entertain you, just don't expect a satisfactory ending. I'd give the show 8/10, but the horrible finale totally undermined the story's credibility with several loose ends, and I was left frustrated instead of with the great feeling I had during the first 5 episodes.

joellyn917 Okay, this series was made in 2003 and it's now 2011 and it's the first time I'm watching this and all I can think of to say is....WOW. I don't know how I managed to miss this one, but this has to be one of the best written, directed and acted series that I have ever seen. It should be required viewing for every screenwriter, especially American ones, considering the drought of anything quality coming out of Hollywood now. A few of the actors have gone on to become well known movie stars, James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Kelly MacDonald, and the director David Yates has directed the last 4 Harry Potter movies. The two leads John Simm and David Morrissey were brilliant! They should be getting movie roles as well, and the supporting cast was perfect. Such an exhilarating experience. I want MORE State of Play but this is the only one they did. I suppose Paul Abbott decided that anything else he came up with would pale in comparison. Kudos to the production team for this stellar series!

Traline Spencer When I started searching for this mini-series, I got confused because there's a US movie with Russle Crowe that has the same exact title, and the plots are even similar. Although the Russle Crowe movie is pretty good, it doesn't hold a candle to this British mini-series. Seriously, I loved every single second of it. The plot had exciting and unexpected twists and turns. The character development was deep and realistic. There aren't any one dimensional cut and dry good or bad guys. Everyone has very apparent flaws, just like real life. I would definitely recommend this to anyone that likes good well written character driven political thriller type dramas. You won't be disappointed. I wish American TV mini-series were more like this. I have more reviews on my blog at www.sociallyurban.com If you're interested in checking it out.

goha First two episodes were excellent. Pacey, dramatic, great interaction between journalism, politics and police investigation. What happened in episodes 3,4,5 ? The Police and their ongoing investigation were dropped from the show. The affair between the politician's wife and the journalist took up (seemingly) hours of time. You never learned anything about any of the characters inner life or emotional state. And the most ludicrous character Dominic Foy wasted everybody's time with a pathetic accent, overacting and irrational behaviour. This should have been an excellent 3 or 4 part series, not 6. Episode 6 was too talky and unrealistic. The only saving grace of the final part was the excellent comedy turn of Bill Nighy. Even then, none of the behaviour rang true of real life journalists, politicians or police.And then there's the way it was shot. If you want to know why the latest Harry Potter movies are not very good, look at the uninventive directing of David Yates in State of Play. No idea how to frame a widescreen frame. No idea how to edit for drama, action, tension or speech. The only idea for edginess seemed to be using a hand-held camera with resulting shaky-cam effect.*SPOILERS*And in the end, the political games turned out to be weak, the oil company revelations were less than sinister, the politician's wife had no impact on the outcome and the big revelation was inconsistent with the two big plot turns at the beginning. 1. Who changed and classified the autopsy report ? 2. Why did the police recklessly shoot dead the assassin ?Watch The Wire for comparison of a better TV series, better drama, more real characters, better writing, better directing, better editing.Watch All the President's Men for filming in an open plan newspaper office. Watch Parallax View for journalism, company and political tension.David Yates is no Alan J Pakula.