The producers and director of the political thriller State of Play have been emphasizing in interviews that they had to struggle to extract a two-hour American movie adaptation of the six-part 2003 BBC television series of the same title. So far as I’m aware, they haven’t said just why they thought it was worth the effort, although, given the American film industry’s penchant for buying the rights to British properties, perhaps they didn’t feel it was a question that they needed to address.

“I thought this was gonna be funny, but it’s just kind of sad,” says one character at about the midpoint of Observe and Report. A line like that in a comedy that has not been making me laugh is usually something I treat as a gift from the god of snark.

Along with the MPAA ratings we’ve all come to learn and ignore over the years, I’ve always felt that there should be one to warn adults away from movies that aren’t intended for anyone over the age of 16.