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Special Features
Audio Commentary with Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The skullduggery surrounding the Valerie Plame affair is already the stuff of an espionage thriller, even if at the time of the making of Fair Game many details of the incident remained murky. Naomi Watts plays Plame, a longtime CIA agent whose classified status was exposed to the world by columnist Robert Novak in 2003. The move was widely seen as retaliation for the fact that Plame's husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn), had just written an op-ed piece contradicting an assertion in President Bush's State of the Union address--an assertion that was part of the Bush administration's drum-beating enthusiasm for the Iraq War. The movie can't answer all the questions about who wanted Plame exposed, but at the least it could create a convincing piece of Beltway intrigue. Instead, Fair Game steers in the direction of domestic melodrama, as the marriage between Plame and Wilson is severely tested by the unwanted notoriety. It's not that the actors are unable to bring this situation to life; Penn is forceful (and he cleverly suggests the vanity of a longtime cocktail-party maven), while Watts, though quite capable, is somewhat frozen by her character's mixed, ambivalent reactions. The main problem is simply that these relationship scenes tip the balance, as though the Plame-Wilson marriage carried greater weight than allegations of weapons of mass destruction and the ramp-up to the Iraq War. Meanwhile, director Doug Liman tries to whip up some spy-movie "energy" with lots of noise and cutting, all of which feels increasingly hollow as the movie goes along. A calmer, cleaner documentary on the same subject might do a superior job someday. --Robert Horton
Product Description
From the director of The Bourne Identity comes this riveting thriller inspired by the experiences of real-life CIA officer Valerie Plame (Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts). When Plame's retired ambassador husband Joe Wilson (played by Academy Award® winner Sean Penn) writes a newspaper article challenging the basis for the U.S. war on Iraq, the White House leaks Plame s undercover status leaving her international contacts vulnerable, her career in shambles and her life in danger. Crackling with sharp dialogue, gripping intrigue and heart-pounding suspense, Fair Game is the adventure that s so unbelievable, it can only be real
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
81 of 96 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
FAIR GAME
STARRING: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Ty Burrell, Brooke Smith, Thomas McCarthy, Jessica Hecht, Noah Emmerich, Bruce McGill and Sam Shepard
WRITTEN BY: Jez Butterworth and John Henry Butterworth; based on the books, The Politics of Truth, by Joseph Wilson, and Fair Game by Valerie Plame
DIRECTED BY: Doug Liman
Rated: PG - 13
Genre: Drama
Release Date: 05 November 2010
Review Date: 09 November 2010
A very rewarding and not highly practiced treat in cinema, is sitting down in your seat at a theater and having no idea what kind of movie you're about to watch; not the premise, not the rating, not the genre.
I've been fortunate to do this a few times and it can be awesome. If you're wondering how you can do this, well - every once in a while for whatever reason, a studio will release a film with A-list talent but only put it in a selected handful of theaters across the country. As such was the case for me when I drove 15 miles to see Fair Game at my city's `artsy' theater, knowing only that it was the new Sean Penn.
I was also surprised to learn at the film's close, that it was based very largely on a true story. Fair Game shows a couple who was sabotaged by the media when they exposed that the government had blatantly lied about where Iraq may or may not have gotten their supposed nuclear warheads, way back at the brink of the Iraq war.
Now before you get all fussy due to the touchy political subject matter, RELAX. I'm a proud American and served in the Military and I didn't find the film offensive. We are all aware that Sean Penn is known for voicing his lefty political views rather radically; but I strongly think 99 percent of us with brain stems will agree with his character's speech at the end of the film.
This movie isn't about bashing Bush or his administration and it's not about being anti-American and painting a portrait that displays Iraqi terrorists as the good guys and us as the bad guys. If anything, it's a film showcasing both our beautiful God-given rights to freedom of speech and that if you KNOW firsthand that someone lied, then you may want to do something about it; sometimes no matter what the cost.
I'm not going to say whether or not the film is 100 percent accurate because I don't know that and you don't know that. Hell, the filmmakers probably don't even know that. But we ALL know that things were shady to say the least for a while there, and that surely somewhere, SOMEONE lied - big or small, they did; and it was most likely more than one person.
Anyway - Fair Game shows us a character named Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) who volunteered to go to Africa on behalf of the CIA's request, to investigate if and or how weapons of mass destruction could have been shipped from there. The film shows us very clearly, that they could not have been. Our character knows this. Oh, and he was asked to do this by the way, because his wife Valerie (Naomi Watts) is a CIA operative, and Joe has some experience in this field, the details of which I'll leave for you to discover.
When Joe returns, he is baffled to soon learn that we are going to war, and that the President and the Pentagon have more or less claimed that it was proven that these WMDs did in fact come from Africa, and that Iraq has them and that we need to step in. Being one of, if not THEE only American who knows this to be not true, Joe naturally feels a duty to report this. So he writes and article, has it published and all hell breaks loose for him and his wife, and that's all I'm going to tell.
There are however, a slew of small additional things to mention to you. The acting is sensational; specifically from both Penn and Watts, no shocker there I'm sure. The cinematography is terrific as is the direction by Doug Liman who also brought us The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And the film is brilliantly written and it displays scenes of realistic moments we can all relate to; such as political discussions at a dinner table with friends or family who are quick to run their mouths about things of which they have no personal experience with. You know, dinners where everyone at the table is an expert and can solve all the world's problems? Yeah, dinners like that.
If anything, aside from being entertaining from start to finish, Fair Game is a movie that makes you think. It makes us realize how the media will often twist and skew things to be interpreted the way they see fit; and don't worry - I'm not blind to the fact that Hollywood does this as well.
Although the odds are high that it will never happen to you or me, each and every one of us could be `fair game' to the media or the government's vendetta driven shenanigans at any moment. But what's great about America, and what this film is trying to convey to us, is that thanks to our amazing Constitution... the media and government can be fair game as well.
STARRING: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Ty Burrell, Brooke Smith, Thomas McCarthy, Jessica Hecht, Noah Emmerich, Bruce McGill and Sam Shepard
WRITTEN BY: Jez Butterworth and John Henry Butterworth; based on the books, The Politics of Truth, by Joseph Wilson, and Fair Game by Valerie Plame
DIRECTED BY: Doug Liman
Rated: PG - 13
Genre: Drama
Release Date: 05 November 2010
Review Date: 09 November 2010
A very rewarding and not highly practiced treat in cinema, is sitting down in your seat at a theater and having no idea what kind of movie you're about to watch; not the premise, not the rating, not the genre.
I've been fortunate to do this a few times and it can be awesome. If you're wondering how you can do this, well - every once in a while for whatever reason, a studio will release a film with A-list talent but only put it in a selected handful of theaters across the country. As such was the case for me when I drove 15 miles to see Fair Game at my city's `artsy' theater, knowing only that it was the new Sean Penn.
I was also surprised to learn at the film's close, that it was based very largely on a true story. Fair Game shows a couple who was sabotaged by the media when they exposed that the government had blatantly lied about where Iraq may or may not have gotten their supposed nuclear warheads, way back at the brink of the Iraq war.
Now before you get all fussy due to the touchy political subject matter, RELAX. I'm a proud American and served in the Military and I didn't find the film offensive. We are all aware that Sean Penn is known for voicing his lefty political views rather radically; but I strongly think 99 percent of us with brain stems will agree with his character's speech at the end of the film.
This movie isn't about bashing Bush or his administration and it's not about being anti-American and painting a portrait that displays Iraqi terrorists as the good guys and us as the bad guys. If anything, it's a film showcasing both our beautiful God-given rights to freedom of speech and that if you KNOW firsthand that someone lied, then you may want to do something about it; sometimes no matter what the cost.
I'm not going to say whether or not the film is 100 percent accurate because I don't know that and you don't know that. Hell, the filmmakers probably don't even know that. But we ALL know that things were shady to say the least for a while there, and that surely somewhere, SOMEONE lied - big or small, they did; and it was most likely more than one person.
Anyway - Fair Game shows us a character named Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) who volunteered to go to Africa on behalf of the CIA's request, to investigate if and or how weapons of mass destruction could have been shipped from there. The film shows us very clearly, that they could not have been. Our character knows this. Oh, and he was asked to do this by the way, because his wife Valerie (Naomi Watts) is a CIA operative, and Joe has some experience in this field, the details of which I'll leave for you to discover.
When Joe returns, he is baffled to soon learn that we are going to war, and that the President and the Pentagon have more or less claimed that it was proven that these WMDs did in fact come from Africa, and that Iraq has them and that we need to step in. Being one of, if not THEE only American who knows this to be not true, Joe naturally feels a duty to report this. So he writes and article, has it published and all hell breaks loose for him and his wife, and that's all I'm going to tell.
There are however, a slew of small additional things to mention to you. The acting is sensational; specifically from both Penn and Watts, no shocker there I'm sure. The cinematography is terrific as is the direction by Doug Liman who also brought us The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And the film is brilliantly written and it displays scenes of realistic moments we can all relate to; such as political discussions at a dinner table with friends or family who are quick to run their mouths about things of which they have no personal experience with. You know, dinners where everyone at the table is an expert and can solve all the world's problems? Yeah, dinners like that.
If anything, aside from being entertaining from start to finish, Fair Game is a movie that makes you think. It makes us realize how the media will often twist and skew things to be interpreted the way they see fit; and don't worry - I'm not blind to the fact that Hollywood does this as well.
Although the odds are high that it will never happen to you or me, each and every one of us could be `fair game' to the media or the government's vendetta driven shenanigans at any moment. But what's great about America, and what this film is trying to convey to us, is that thanks to our amazing Constitution... the media and government can be fair game as well.
79 of 95 people found the following review helpful
By D. Barbour
Format:Blu-ray
Fair Game is one of the best politically themed films in quite some time - an equally riveting and well told story of the Bush administration's leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity to the general public. I highly recommend this movie no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on - if for nothing more than two see the two Oscar-worthy performances of Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. The movie is great, and the final sequence of the film is one of the year's best.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I watched the Valerie Plame hearing on TV when it was shown. What got us in the Iraq war amoung other things was what had been done to the Wilsons when Joe Wilson wrote his op-ed about Niger not selling anything to Saddam Huessen. This goes into more of their behind the scenes life & how Joe Wilson fought what the G.W. Bush admin was putting out especially V.P. Cheney. But even though Cheney was behind it all & "Scooter" Libby took the fall for him & when Scooter was sentenced, Bush IMMEDIATELY pardoned him before he even spent a day in prison (he did pay a $250.000.00 fine & lost his Lawyers license) but they in my estimation WERE THE WINNERS. Joe Wilson & Valerie Plame came out clean but the administration was raked over the coals. At the end of the movie it shows Valerie Plame walking into the Capital to testify---that was her. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW OUR GOVERNMENT CAN TURN LIES INTO THE TRUTH----YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS MOVIE. BUSH HAD SAID ON TV WHEN THEY "OUTED" HER THAT IF ANYONE IN HIS ADMINISTRATION HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT HE WOULD FIRE THEM. YOU GUESSED IT------NO ONE WAS FIRED---ANOTHER LIE STRAIGHT FROM THE PRESIDENT IN REAL TIME. So enjoy the movie---it's good.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific movie
I loved this film. It is an exact account of what was really happening in our government in a time when citizens needed to know the truth about how bad it can get when unchecked... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Vivian D. Osborn
5.0 out of 5 stars
big guns
This movie has been on my must-purchase list for a while. Every fan of the show Homeland should give this movie a view.
Published 3 days ago by Scott M. Beare
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fair Game
Supposedly a true story, which reveals how Washington can destroy anyone with lies and deceit; nothing new! Read more
Published 18 days ago by gaylee
3.0 out of 5 stars
I did not think this movie lived up to the accuracy and drama of the...
it brought back all the reasons why i left dc having lived there during the bush/cheney era.
marginal --rent, do not buy
marginal --rent, do not buy
Published 1 month ago by R. Keiser
5.0 out of 5 stars
LOVED IT!
Im a big fan of the stars of the film. It was well written and well acted. We didnt want to hit pause for any food or potty breaks. LOVED IT!
Published 2 months ago by Karima Mohamed
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who are you? Are you you?
This, although fictionalized, is an interesting look into the world of CIA agents. Based on Valeria Plame and her "outing" by Cheney's goon, it shows consequences both... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Arlene
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real stuff an timely too!
As is stated at the beginning of the movie; "truth against power" is a real as it gets. The dysfunctional intelligence and other agencies along with the power of the White... Read more
Published 3 months ago by T. Dionne
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting movie
Certainly a movie that gives you pause about the government and the powers it can exert. Wish I didn't believe it.
Published 3 months ago by terilou
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kept my attention!
The movie kept my attention. I will watch it again to pick up more details. This whole affair infuriated me when Valerie's identity was exposed.
Published 3 months ago by Joan Butler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fair Game
Fair Game was a wonderful movie. It is the kind of movie that you will want to watch over and over.I am so grateful that dvd's are can be purchased at amazon.
Published 3 months ago by Sarah Sheffield
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