Newspapers, 'State of Play' shouts like a street vendor, are screwed. Crippled by budget cuts, outrun by bloggers, trumped by tabloids, broadsheets have lost their status as custodians of information. But that's hardly stop-the-presses breaking news.

Then again, nor is this throwback to the 1970s. 'All The President's Men' with cellphones, the interwebs, and better hairstyles, it's an old fashioned political thriller from the days when men were men and journalists had no Wikipedia.

Russell Crowe is a seasoned (read cranky, hard-drinking) yet surprisingly idealistic Washington reporter prone to saying things like: "The more you talk, the more you give us — the more protected you are."

Happiest pounding the pavements on his crime beat, he keeps his nose out of the career-making political stories even though — or perhaps because — his college roommate (Ben Affleck) is now a rising star on Capitol hill. But when the old newshound sniffs out a possible link between a low-life drug dealer's killing and the sudden death of Ben's closest aide, Russell just can't resist.

Reluctantly enlisting junior online reporter Rachel McAdams, he follows 30 years of journalists-played-by-actors into a world of dark, deserted car parks; photos in manila envelopes; stolen briefcases; lone gunmen; ballsy editors (Helen Mirren); corruption, cover-ups, cloaks and daggers.

Adapted from a BBC series, it's a typically twisty tale courtesy of screenwriters almost as high-powered as the triple-Oscar-winning cast. Billy Ray ('Breach') and Tony Gilroy ('Duplicity', 'Michael Clayton') bring the intricate plotting and retro-thriller feel, while Matthew Michael Carnahan ('Lions for Lambs') and Peter Morgan ('Frost/Nixon', 'The Queen') provide the politics.

Still, their tightly wound collaborative screenplay unravels just before the second last of its one too many false endings, leaving former documentary director (and Morgan's 'The Last King Of Scotland' colleague) Kevin Macdonald hanging out on a ledge.

Unfortunate, since he and his cast (especially a resurgent, resolutely antagonistic Crowe) have created a breathless whodunit that turns the drudgery of news reporting into genuine excitement.

Now that's a real scoop.