Affairs of State - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Affairs of State

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
I can only surmise that Affairs of State was one of those films that left development purgatory due to the 2016 election cycle. The movie was literally in development for over 3 years, showing no signs of ever coming out into the wild until the beginning of 2017, when a political opportunity arose. With the shocking upheaval of the presidential election, it seemed like the perfect time to interject a political thriller amidst all of the sex scandals and #MeToo movement stuff going around at the same time. Seems like a good idea, right? Well, that only works when you have a script worth the money it was printed on, and acting presence to bring the film to the public eye. Sadly Affairs of State has none of those, and upon watching the movie I can fully understand why this stayed in development purgatory for so many years. No one wanted to touch it with a 10 foot pole, and the end result explains why that was so.

In the political world of Washington DC everything is motivated by the sleazy desires of rich old white men. Getting to sleep with young women, sex scandals, and rings of criminally minded politicians miring the swamp. Or at least that’s what Affairs of State would have you believe. Political aide Michael Lawson (David Corenswet) wants nothing more than to get on the staff of upcoming Presidential candidate, Republican Senator Baines (David James Elliott). Baines has branched out from the Republican party and started his own, and the possibilities of being on the bandwagon with such a historic move would put Lawson’s own political ambitions on the radar. IF he can get a seat at the table.

Using his best friend and roommate Callie (Thora Birch) to hack into a private database, Michael gets his hands on footage of a prominent judge in a sexually compromising position. Using this footage, the struggling political aide trades up for a seat at Senator Baines’ table. Only thing is, Michael soon starts on a path to self destruction as he begins sleeping with Baines’ wife Judith (Mimi Rogers) and then on to their “barely out of high school” daughter who takes a shine to him. Can Michael make his way through all the political pitfalls intact?

I can’t help by laugh hysterically at Affairs of State. It seems to set itself out to be a cold political thriller for the first 30 minutest. But when Michael gets his job on the Senator’s staff, things just get nonsensical and downright stupid. Michael just sleeps around like it’s a bored frat boy, and then wonders why he gets himself into so much trouble! The sleaze and tawdry nature of the film’s premise might have worked in better hands, but as of now the movie is just an excuse to say “see see! Everything in DC is a bit sex scandal!”.

The script is all over the place, with characters coming and going at will, and just meandering around the narrative without trying to tie loose ends together. Not to mention the casting. Everyone has this young “pretty boy” look to them, and their direction in the film is pretty abysmal. Some of the cast seem to be modeled around real life figures (rapper Mad Cash seems to be a direct clone of Kanye West and his support of Trump), and you can tell the script was farmed from other more adept thrillers, as well as concepts like Pizza Gate, and the other sex scandals that have haunted Washington.




Rating:

Rated R for strong sexual content, language, some violence and brief drug use




Video:

Shot on the Arri Alexa digital camera system, Affairs of State looks like another film that falls under Mike’s “rule of 4” (wherein the audio and video are solid presentations, earning a solid 4 across the board for both). The palate is a bit limited in nature, but it is clean and clear of any distractions with a crisp look that shows off more than enough details. Suits, ties, board rooms, and bedrooms alike show nice detail levels, ranging from the intimate clothing details to the wide angle shots of ornate wooden desks and automobiles. There is some softness that plagues the film throughout, but it’s never too egregious or annoying, but rather just noticeably less crisp that other modern films. Black levels are good, but never great, showing good shadow detail in the darkened bedrooms, but there are a few times where the shadows just looked a TAD milky. It’s a good looking film for sure, with it’s only flaws being that it isn’t as detailed or nuanced as a giant blockbuster.





Audio:

Much like the video, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA is more than capable of handling the moody thriller, but doesn’t excel or become wildly exciting. The dialog is the main feature of this track, with a little emphasis on the moody and morose sounding score to fill out the channels. Dialog is crisp and cleanly replicated in the front of the room, with the mains adding the majority of the “excitement” to the film with it’s front sound stage opening up in conversations and arguments. Surrounds get some moderate activity with mild ambiance, but they are usually involved only when the score kicks in. LFE is tight and clean, but never assertive or wildly aggressive except in a few “dun dun dun!” moments. It’s a solid track from Lionsgate, and does everything quite well, even if it doesn’t ever really get to be a rousing action track.






Extras:

• Director/Producer Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailer Gallery

Final Score: ​

Affairs of State is one of those DTV films that basically just falls into the cracks of the quality meter. There’s nothing so painfully awful as a sloppily put together picture that just wanders and meanders around the narrative. In this case, it’s a mindless political conspiracy theory that looks like it was shelved for several years, until this new election cycle came about. Cheap, tawdry and banally boring to the core, this political thriller is best left on the shelf as it doesn’t do anything of any substance at any time during the hour and 3/4ths (ish) run time. It just seems like an excuse to make an erotic thriller in a political guise and then monetize on the upheaval of the current presidential regime. Audio and video are stable and clean, with a smattering of extras, so fans should be generally pleased. If you haven’t already seen Affairs of State though, I would suggest just skipping it together, as it adds nothing of any value to the genre.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: David Corenswet, Thora Birch, Adrien Grenier
Directed by: Eric Bross
Written by: Tom Cudworth
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 108 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 14th, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will skip it based on your recommendation.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Never heard of it... never will see it.

Thx for taking yet ANOTHER bullet, MS!