Tuesday, November 16, 2010

FAIR GAME

“FAIR GAME” (Naomi Watts & Sean Penn)

I shouldn’t watch movies like this because they make my blood boil and I already have high blood pressure, but I will TRY to set my beliefs aside long enough to give you an insight as to why you should see this film.
Based on the true story of C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame Wilson – some portions that we know to be true and the credits acknowledge books by both Valerie and husband Joe as chief references – but this is Hollywood, stretches and embellishments will be made.

I kept hoping that the part that made my blood boil was ‘made up for dramatic effect’ that it didn’t really happen, especially the way they say it did in the film... I’m debating to myself whether or not revealing the circumstance would be too much of a spoiler, so I’m better off just moving on...

The first half of the film is spent setting up the dramatic second half (In other words, don’t quit on it if it seems boring to you) Multitudes of characters channel in & out of scenes as the filmmaker tries to sum up Valerie’s 18 year career as a C.I.A. agent and what led to her being asked if her ex-diplomat husband would be interested in going to Niger to act as an ambassador to the U.S. and report on a rumor that the government had sold 50 tons of yellow-cake uranium to Saddam Hussein.
Joe Wilson’s report declares there is ‘almost’ a 0% possibility that this event took place.
This does not please the White House, so they garner ‘different’ data that backs the sell and leak the info to the press. When Joe reads this he tries to find out why they would come to this unlikely conclusion (& why the hell did you guys send me over there then?)
Joe is shut out. So he writes his own column and the White House responds by ‘outing’ Valerie as an Intelligence agent; Karl Rove is credited with first saying Valerie was ‘fair game’ and they had every right to mention her by name. They did not. And so ‘Scooter’ Libby was dismissed as the fall guy.
This is when the film takes off; Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, in their third film together, shine as Valerie and Joe – though with Sean, it seemed he was playing ‘himself’ at times. So even though he’s my favorite actor, I have to say he can’t really be a shoe-in for an Oscar nod. The reason I love Sean is due to his ability to become his character (My #1 criterion for great acting) but here, I never lost sight of Sean Penn because I’ve seen him behave the same way & say the same things that he was saying as Joe Wilson. Still, two scenes stand out – One, where he calls a female reporter that disrupts a business meeting he’s holding, a ‘hack’ and one where he argues with Valerie over whether or not they should ‘fight back’ against the Bush administration; “If I talk LOUDER than you, Valerie – Does that make me right?”
But this excellent film is carried by Naomi Watts. She does seem to bring her ‘A’ game when working with Sean. Believable as a tough talking C.I.A. agent in the first part of the film as well as the housewife on the verge of a nervous breakdown after the White House destroys her career; which leads to a major strain on her marriage, relationships with family and friends as well as having to deal with ‘death threats’ from morons who believe politicians don’t lie to get what they want. Why Naomi isn’t being touted as a major contender for Best Actress baffles me – She’s my runaway pick right now.
As far as the section of the film that irked me so? We can discuss it in the comments section for those of you that have seen ‘Fair Game’. For those of you that have not – See it. See it & then tell me these war mongers are the kind of people you want running our country. Because THAT part of the film we KNOW actually happened. . .

3 comments:

movie luva said...

I thought thjis was a very compelling film. I also believe Valerie and Joe.

After reading more about their situation I believe more than ever that the conservative party were playing dirty pool.

There were many different things going on politically in the film, so are you talking about what made your blood boil was their denouncing of Joe's artilce on WOMD being a bunch of bull ?

If so, that got me pretty worked up too. But it didn't surprise me in the least. There are still Republican's who just loved George W. that believe WOMD existed. You can't talk to these people. They don't make sense. They are all about being angry and emotional and not about facts or logic.
This last election for the senate was a punch in the gut.

Good performance by Penn, but excellent perforamnce by Watts. And just to ease your curiosity, I have read a couple things that have said her perforamnce is worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Terry R said...

I just read where Naomi is listed as a 'Long Shot' to receive an Oscar nomination, but this publication had Annette Benning & Jullianne Moore as the 2 front-runners & I find that preposterous.
No, the WMD lies & cover-up isn't what made my blood boil - that was one of those things were already knew to be true - What irked me - & don't read this if you haven't seen the film - was how the Iraqi scientists were left stranded by the C.I.A. because Valerie had been dismissed. The film 'hinted' that they were more than likely killed & I would like to have known exactly what happened to them. I doubt seriously that they were in safe spots awaiting American escorts to get them to safety on the same day that Valerie was outed by Bush, but I have no doubt that they were left to fend for themselves. Another blight on America's reputation that we will never recover from, thanks to W.

blue stater said...

I want to see this movie but it's not playing anywhere near me. I hope to catch it on demand if it's available as I find the story truly interesting. I have done research on it.