Review of Fair Game (2010) by Tom B — 02 Aug 2011

When a man's obssession for the truth threatens a woman's marriage and family well-being, as well as decimating her career, the fate of truth in the nation hangs in the balance. It's especially compelling since the man is her husband.

There is a tradition in American film of making exciting thrillers based on true stories. This is a solid entry, both a compelling story about the trumped up WMD search, as well as a taut marriage drama.

As cinema goes it's pretty solid with Doug Liman delivering a steady pace and capitalizing on a well-written script, but it's Naomi Watts who hits the ball out of the park on this one. She's turned in several highly memorable performances and this is one of them.

In many ways this is Valerie's story, and there are times when her frustration with her husband's dogged and almost blind allegiance to fighting the Big Dogs over the issues at hand is something we understand only too well.

Since I stopped watching the news around the time these events took place I never knew of the story, so watching this was a revelation as well as great entertainment. Kudos to Liman for doing something I always wish so-called true stories would do, allowing the film image of Naomi Watts to go to actual footage of Valerie Plame-Wilson giving her testimony, bringing us back to the real-world events.

Husband and wife both consulted on film and speak together on commentary (I haven't listened yet, so can't comment, but I can imagine it might be worth listening to.) For cinephiles, watch for the scene between Sam Sheppard, who plays Valerie's father.

Sam and Naomi strike the right balance, and isn't Liman doing a bit of Malick tribute here? I think so. Nice touch.