FAIR GAME (eOne, 2010) D: Doug Liman, w/ Naomi Watts, Sean Penn. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNN Rating: NNN
True story: in 2003, former U.S. diplomat Joe Wilson wrote a New York Times op ed piece that undercut, on good evidence, a key claim in the Bush administration’s weapons-of-mass-destruction scenario. The administration retaliated by leaking information that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent and proceeding to blacken the couple’s name. Joe fights back.
The front half of the movie involves Valerie’s covert operations in the Middle East, her loving home life and the White House leaning on the CIA. Once she’s outed, the focus shifts to her suffering, Joe’s fight and their crumbling marriage. It all makes a solid drama and a timely civics lesson.
On the commentary, the real Plame and Wilson say that Naomi Watts and Sean Penn play them to perfection. I won’t disagree. They’re forthcoming about their travails and point out the occasional bit of convenient fiction amid the facts.
EXTRAS Commentary. Widescreen. English, French audio. English subtitles.
