It could be safe to say that the majority of American audiences who see the new Russell Crowe thriller, ‘State of Play,’ are unaware of the British television series starring Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald. As an updated version of this miniseries, the new film seizes the opportunity to give a final tribute to the struggling newspaper industry. Crowe stars as Cal Mcaffrey: a senior investigative journalist who approaches his stories with dedicated street smarts and honesty. Opposite Cal is Della Frye, whose new age digital savvy journalism tactics irritate the veteran reporter beyond a simple warm greeting. When a congressman’s assistant is mysteriously killed, Cal and Della are assigned to investigate the case regardless of a conflict of interest. Ben Affleck also stars as Stephen Collins: the congressman in question who is also the old college roommate of Cal. Immediately, Cal is put in an almost unbearable situation of carefully questioning an old friend while defending his identity with a quick-to-accuse partner. To make matters worse, the ever-abusive media quickly reports that Collins and his assistant were involved in an affair. Along with a pressing editor-in-chief (Helen Mirren), only a few of these basic elements are borrowed from the original series. In keeping with the trend of borrowing from a television series, the Americanized film version of ‘State of Play’ also follows suit with ‘Jericho’ and this year’s season of ’24.’ Both shows have featured a central conspiracy around a mysterious private military organization. In ‘State of Play,’ there’s a similar Blackwater-like company interfering with Cal’s investigations, ultimately offering some intense sequences of suspense. However, with so many incarnations of these twists and turns already featured in other programs, many of the viewers will see the twists coming a mile away. With all this borrowing and blatantly obvious plot twists, ‘State of Play’ succeeds as a film due to its star performances and intelligently poetic writing. Luckily, they’ve nailed the depiction of classic journalism. Because of this, the film, unlike the miniseries, is able to make a case for a traditional approach to journalism as it’s quickly being consumed by our fast-paced world of new media. The terrific blend of performances by Crowe, McAdams and even Affleck bring sentimentality to the truth-seeking journalists who refuse to run incomplete stories for the sake of boosting sales. With all the dedication that was put into forming ‘State of Play’s’ effusive argument, a resembling approach to the film couldn’t be closer to the truth. Letter Grade: B –Rated PG-13 for some violence, language including sexual references, and brief drug content. –Runtime: 127 min. –Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels –Directed by Kevin Macdonald