Review of Fair Game (2010) by Andrew H — 16 Sep 2011
This film is a retelling of the Valerie Plame scandal that broke as the United States was invading Iraq in 2003. The title is derived from a quote that Karl Rove made, saying that because Joe Wilson questioned the intelligence that lead to war, his CIA wife was now "fair game.
" Overall the film does a good job of showing Valerie and Joe's struggle to defend themselves and their names from the media and the Bush administration. Naomi Watts is fantastic as always (and does look a lot like the real Valerie Plame), but Sean Penn steals the show with an incredibly calculated performance.
Doug Liman manages to keep the political thriller focused on the couple, although I thought it strange that the main conflict doesn't come in until about half-way through. The film actually does the best job at showing how the CIA was strong-armed by Scooter Libby and Dick Chaney's office to find evidence of WMDs in Iraq.
If you don't know anything about this scandal, this film isn't a bad place to start. If you do, it's a great reminder of the mentality during the Bush White House, and how all voices of reason and intelligence were targeted as "un-American.
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This review of Fair Game (2010) was written by Andrew H on 16 Sep 2011.
Fair Game has generally received positive reviews.
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