State of Play

What is it about British TV shows and series that makes them so damn good. Don't get me wrong, we have our solid shows here in the States. Lost for example. But think about it, what good tv shows are there? The office? Oh yeah, that was British first. American Idol? Copied as well. One show that they haven't redone quite yet is called 'Hustle'. It was aired on AMC and my oh my, what a great f-ing show. If you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend you giving it a whirl. Reminds me of the old school movie 'The Sting' starring Robert Redford. Classic movie about the long con. Long con's are the best. They are just fun to watch and you get so excited when it finally all comes together at the end. It's amazing how smoothly things go and its not to the extent where its unbelieveable. Well...sometimes it is, but mostly its not. If you look it up on wikipedia, it states, "A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, or swindle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence." A more contemporary film you may have heard of is actually named 'Confidence' starring Edward Burns, Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman. Long con at its best.

I tend to stray from the main focus of each post, but I think its often for a good thing. State of Play was a British mini-series that aired back in 2003. You may or may not have seen previews for the movie that recently came out starring Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, Jason Batemen, Robin Wright Penn, Jeff Daniels and the list goes on. Here's a link to the trailer. So originally, it was supposed to be Ed Norton and Brad Pitt, but they were busy, so the recent trend of fat movie stars in starring roles came to fruition (see Russell Crowe lately?) I highly doubt the movie will be anywhere as good as the British mini-series. The series is spaced out over 6 episodes. I wanted to give it a go because of the movie and the likelihood that it would be better because its British. Man was I right. It keeps you on your seat, the story never wanes, its not high action, yet its still keeps you on your toes, wondering what will happen next. As the saying goes, how far does that rabbit hole go? Intriguing mystery/thriller that I 100% endorse. You won't regret it.

More than likely, my word isn't enough for you to check it out, so I can throw some names out of who is starring in it: Bill Nighy from the wonderful Underworld series (or Love Actually if you're a girl). The up and coming James McAvoy in an understated role he knocks out of the park. Kelly Macdonald from the previously reviewed 'Choke'. Polly Walker who also stars in my beloved 'Caprica' pilot. and lastly, Marc Warren who also stars in the previously mentioned 'Hustle' as Danny Blue.

I give the mini-series a 4.5 out of 5 Manatees.