Posted 11:13 AM by Gene

THE NEXT PAUL ATTANASIO:

Above all, the film serves as a reminder that telling the truth becomes impossible when the journalist gets too close to the people he's covering.

Like Crowe's flawed reporter, whose friendship with the politician is self-destructive, my ability to write about "State of Play" was compromised from the start. I was paid to be a consultant. Then I became friends with many of the cast and crew. I overheard things that would make for fantastic copy, but I'll never report them. To do so would make me the worst kind of hypocrite.

So why are you writing about it?

OR:

My new, surreal role as a pampered movie consultant is quite agreeable: hanging out with A-list celebrities, traveling first-class, staying near the beach in Santa Monica, fattening up on catered meals. It would be nice to stick around.

It also would be nice to leave with some integrity intact.

Be a movie ad-blurbist or write that screenplay and you wouldn't have to worry.

This A-1 tripe is another argument that the news biz hasn't suffered enough layoffs.