Fair Game

I obviously wasn’t paying attention during the opening credits of Fair Game as I was surprised to see Doug Liman’s name crop as director at the end. This must be the most un-Liman like film you’ll ever see. No whipping camera work, minimal effects, a quiet soundtrack and concentration on plot over action. I don’t know whether Liman fancied adding a further string to his bow in agreeing to direct this political thriller, but it appears an odd choice of director to material. The material in question is a film based on the memoir of Valerie Plame, a CIA agent who’s identity was allegedly revealed by the White House due to her husband writing an article that claimed White House officials had manipulated information regarding Iraq’s weapons programme. That’s pretty much the plot. There is a major problem here though. This is no doubt a fascinating story, but it certainly doesn’t make for fascinating cinema. I actually called this a political thriller, but there are no thrills here, unless you get excited about lots of clips of old news footage. Herein lies another problem of the film. The subject of Iraq has been box office death, with the argument mainly being we are still too close to it for retrospective films to be made. Ironically in this case, especially with recent current events in North Africa, it actually feels like being too long ago for it to have a topical edge. Naomi Watts and Sean Penn are the leads. Penn is the best of the two, as though Watts does a decent job, she doesn’t ever convince as a CIA agent. Liman’s direction is low key and matter of fact, but he does fudge a number of things including a cringe worthy scene where Penn meets an Africa cab driver who exclaims something along the lines of “Sierra Leone is corrupt….unlike America!”. At that point, Penn’s character gets out of the cab. You’ll do well not to leave the cinema.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
A intriguing story to read up about in your own time, but certainly not worth your evening spent in a cinema seat. Rating: 3/10.