Movie Review - Affairs of State (2018)

Director Eric Bross could have been a director for Scandal or House of Cards. This movie is in line with those government intrigue and political thrillers. Bross' film has the polish and sheen of those TV shows and even the casting of such. It's unfortunate that the writing isn't quite up to the level of those shows. Screenwriter Tom Cudworth has crafted pages that are plot-driven, possibly too much so. There are a lot of shocking things or really bold events that happen, but that's it. Cudworth's script doesn't do the leg work to make us understand why any of those shocking or bold things happen, let alone make us care about any of it. Most of the shocking and bold things are sexual and most of those sexual things are committed by the white, handsome protagonist at the center of this narrative. That at once is the draw to this film and at the same time the criticism.

 

David Corenswet in his feature debut stars as Michael Lawson, a recent college graduate in Washington, DC who hopes to work for a politician who's running for president under a new political party. His way to do that is getting introduced to the politician's campaign manager. In order to get that introduction, he needs to appeal to a woman named Mary Maple who is throwing a huge fundraiser for the politician in question. The way Michael decides to appeal to Mary Maple is by having sex with her. We see this in the opening scene. A little bit of voice-over narration and a smash-cut convey Michael's relationship with Mary, making Michael akin to a prostitute.

It's a relatively short, opening scene that's supposed to suggest what Michael will stoop to do in order to advance his political career. The intricacies and the details of that arrangement aren't meant to be as important as seeing the immoral actions that Michael is willing to make. Yet, the lack of intricacies and details here are indicative of my criticism of this film. How did this arrangement between Michael and Mary come to be? Who suggested it? Who propositioned whom?

Later, in the film, Michael gets into a similar predicament as the character of Benjamin Braddock in the Oscar-winning film The Graduate (1967). In that film, Benjamin Braddock is pulled into a sexual relationship with a woman named Mrs. Robinson who is old-enough to be his mother. Mrs. Robinson is the more domineering and has him under her power, using him for her own physical desires, even though Benjamin gets some enjoyment out of it. Given the parallels in this film, it's assumed that Michael is similarly under the older woman's control, but here it's as if Michael has multiple women who are his Mrs. Robinson and we only see how his relationship with one begins and not his initial one.

Given the multiple women who are like Mrs. Robinson, one just assumes that women like that are part of the culture in DC and the greater political sphere. In that case, this film almost could have doubled as a male escort movie like Midnight Cowboy (1969) or American Gigolo (1980), except in the world of politics. However, Michael thinks his one-time trade of sex for a political favor will only be one-time, but it turns out to be a constant arrangement for him where he's almost forced into it in a kind of male version of #MeToo, but again Cudworth's script never leans into this idea all that much to make us feel that dynamic.

So, Michael begins or rather is forced into an affair with the politician's wife, Judith Baines, played by Mimi Rogers (Bosch and Lost in Space). Like in The Graduate, however, Michael also becomes enamored with Judith's daughter or in this case stepdaughter, Darcy, played by Grace Victoria Cox (Heathers and Under the Dome). At one point, Darcy says she loves Michael and later, she can be dismissed as a mentally unstable person, but, other than that, there is no indication as to why she would love him. As such, it reveals how rather unremarkable the character of Michael is. Yes, Michael is handsome, young and ambitious, but he is not unlike tons of other college graduates in his field or even out of his field, so I don't get why she thinks he's so special. Judith wants him purely for prurient reasons, but again, Darcy says she loves him. Why?

Unfortunately, the movie never convinces us of why Michael is so special or why anyone would be drawn to him over anyone else. I suppose the same could be said about Benjamin Braddock, but that in itself is probably the point, as the film is a comedy. This instead is supposed to be a serious drama and we're meant to take Darcy's declaration seriously, but sadly, I didn't.

Adrian Grenier (Entourage) also co-stars as Rob Reynolds, the campaign manager for the politician running for president. He's the one who hires Michael, but I'm not sure why either. Michael pulls a power-move that's supposed to show how ruthless he is but also how dedicated, but what Michael offers is something that he got from his roommate, Callie, played by Thora Birch (Ghost World and Patriot Games), a lesbian blackmailer. Rob knows about Callie prior to Michael giving him the blackmail and later Rob hires Callie independent of Michael, so it's never clear what Rob needs Michael for.

What Cudworth's script also fails to do is reconcile this fake political party, which it invents. Essentially, this film is supposing that the politician in question, Senator John Baines, played by David James Elliott (Trumbo and JAG), is the leader of this new political party called the United Party, a third party that is an off-shoot of the Republican Party. Third parties haven't had any traction in this country, so in order to have any traction for the fictional, third party here, the script needed to provide more groundwork or at least more context but Cudworth doesn't.

The film even throws into question what we're supposed to feel about this fictional, third party. With that ambiguity about the third party, it's not clear what we're supposed to feel about the ending. As such, I'm not sure what this movie is saying about politics. I guess by the end we're simply meant to see this as a love story gone awry, a more warped and blood-soaked version of Mike Nichols' 1967 classic.

Rated R for strong sexual content, language, some violence and brief drug use.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 38 mins.

Available on DVD and VOD.