Live With It

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This may sound a settled issue in the U.S. and Europe, but The Punch's Sam Cleveland is announcing the death of newspaper movies to his Australian readers. He's right, of course. We'll never see another one.

"No longer will Hollywood stars loosen their ties and roll up their sleeves as scoop-hungry newspaper reporters," he writes. "No more will veteran character actors bring knowing splashes of avuncular charm to the stock role of the grizzled editor. [And] no longer will the movie news be broken in print."

State of Play opened in Australia in late May but Cleveland only recently saw it, which explains why he's how stating that Kevin McDonald's film "marks the end of an era simply because 21st century audiences assume, correctly or not, that news now happens online."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 28, 2009 at 6:57 PM

comment #1

Joe G says ...

We'll see one again, someday. The newsroom is too dramatic to leave it alone. But it will likely be period picture.

Posted by Joe G at July 28, 2009 7:53 PM

comment #2

Chase Kahn says ...

Yes, of course we'll see another one, it just won't be set in the present...

Posted by Chase Kahn at July 28, 2009 8:01 PM

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

what about the Green Hornet movie?

Posted by corey3rd at July 28, 2009 8:49 PM

comment #4

buster keaton says ...

State of Play was unbelievably horrid. The last great journalism movie was, funny enough, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. It really hit home to see the preening editors at the faux Vanity Fair drooling over the starlet de jour, and engaging in office sex with the junior writers eager to get ahead by giving head. Though nowhere near as clever or as on-target on the original Toby Young book, it was still pretty accurate, as was The Devil Wears Prada.

But State of Play? I mean, whoever heard of the publisher getting involved in the minute details of a homicide story? It was pretty lame, but the one completely accurate line in the film came at the beginning when Russell Crowe's character grumbles that he can't get a decent computer to write on while the newspaper's young hipster blogger has enough high-tech equipment to launch a satellite. . . . .

Posted by buster keaton at July 28, 2009 9:22 PM

comment #5

larry braverman says ...

What's a newspaper?

Posted by larry braverman at July 28, 2009 11:02 PM

comment #6

Steven Kar says ...

I remember sitting in the theatre as I was watching State of Play thinking just how bad that movie was.

Posted by Steven Kar at July 29, 2009 5:08 AM

comment #7

drbob says ...

Who cares whether newspaper movies are dying. Newspapers are dying - that's the story. Forest meet trees.

Posted by drbob at July 29, 2009 5:53 AM

comment #8

Brendan says ...

The last great newspaper/journo movie was "Shattered Glass". The timing for the film was perfect, right at the tipping point for newspapers v. online news, and the subject matter of print journalist fabricating stories to keep up with the new competition was riveting.

I completely missed that Simon Pegg movie, never made my radar. Was "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" any good? The trailer makes it look like "The Brit Wears Prada".

Posted by Brendan at July 29, 2009 6:35 AM

comment #9

mrtstanz says ...

of course there will be at least one more movie about newspapers....it will be about the death of the newspaper industry!

my dad is an editor for a local newspaper that is owned by the gannet corporation and i can see a great movie based on the tensions that are going on inside the offices.

Posted by mrtstanz at July 29, 2009 7:14 AM

comment #10

Sabina E says ...

Alas, behold a new genre: INTERNET NEWS MOVIE!!! Ehh, just doesn't have the same dramatic effect to it.

Posted by Sabina E at July 29, 2009 9:12 AM

comment #11

lipranzer says ...

No, HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS watered down most of the venom from Toby Jones' book and stuck a stupid love story onto it. Whatever you thought of STATE OF PLAY, and I think it was a good try, it didn't resort to that.

I agree the last great journalism movie was probably SHATTERED GLASS. Also contained a "who-knew-he-could-be-that-good?" performance from Hayden Christensen.

Posted by lipranzer at July 29, 2009 9:25 AM

comment #12

kammy says ...

Could all this explain why ZODIAC didn't make much of a nose in '07, despite the fact that it was this site's pick for best picture that year?

Posted by kammy at July 29, 2009 9:45 AM

comment #13

Gordon27 says ...

Jeff,

For the last time, stop harping on 'State of Play' as if it's a good movie.

And, if you still haven't watched 'The Wire', you really shouldn't be talking about fictional depictions of newspapers, because you haven't seen it at its best.

Posted by Gordon27 at July 29, 2009 11:33 AM

comment #14