Affairs of State (2018)

(On Cable TV, May 2020) The duality of political thrillers is that they can be very cerebral affairs dealing with the abstract, even lofty ideals essential to the fabric of the state… or they can be trashy sordid affairs mixing petty transgressions and crime magnified by the whiff of power. Affairs of State reveals its true salacious colours early on with a sex scene featuring Mimi Rogers, and then the congressman having the affair goes on to also have sex with her daughter (but not at the same time, that would be too much). The rest of the film is this fantasy of American politics as being a mush of blackmail, affairs, hot sex, corruption, murder, coverups, people shouting at each other and more hot sex. (I listed hot sex twice because I like what I like.) Directed efficiently by Eric Bross, Affairs of State is at its best whenever Mimi Rogers is on-screen, or failing that whenever it’s wallowing in its own trashiness as if there was no tomorrow. Conversely, it’s at its weakest whenever it tries for loftier political statements, like a new conservative party somehow being viable. David Corenswet does well as the oversexed protagonist—but he’s not going to do well if he sticks to those low-budget potboilers. The ending, unfortunately, doesn’t quite cap off the wild ride to get there and feels as if Affairs of State ends on an anticlimactic letdown.