Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren are magnificent.  I'll see anything they do, even when it's against my better judgement.  Such was the case with State of Play, and in this instance, I should have stuck to my better judgement.  Rachel and Helen have got to pay the bills, too, and Hollywood fare such as this can fund more the more interesting projects (The Queen, The Family Stone - respectively) that make them such respectable actresses.

State of Play isn't a bad movie; you'll just forget it the moment you leave the theater.  It's similar to a dozen movies you've seen before, existing almost entirely to act as a vehicle for a clever turn in the third act.