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6/25/2016

Fair Game (2010) or, The Intelligence War



+ Best Political Movie of the Year

Naomi Watts and Sean Penn wind up in a CIA-mess in Doug Liman's Fair Game

Valerie Plame is a skilled CIA-agent and mother of two, whose husband gets sent to Africa to investigate a possible, suspicious uranium deal involving Iraq. After the US war on Iraq is commenced and he shares his find with the rest of the world, the family find themselves in a hellish situation.

Fair Game tells the very interesting story of the rickety foundation for the Iraq War and the brutal handling of the intelligence operatives who bravely made us all aware of this. It is well-made and has Naomi Watts (Ellie Parker (2005)) and Sean Penn (Bad Boys (1983)) both well-playing in the leads along with a line of lovely supporting cast faces.
Unfortunately the title of the film and the casting of the two outspokenly liberal stars, - of whom Penn will be especially divisive when he approaches the sanctimonious, as his character does a couple of times here, - will undoubtedly make a segment of right-leaning audiences skip the film. That is a shame and it weighs down the rating a wee bit.
Fair Game is written by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow (2014), both), based on Plame's memoir Fair Game (2007) and her husband Joseph C. Wilson's memoir The Politics of Truth (2004), and directed by Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)).

Related posts:

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess




Watch a few excerpts from the film here

Cost: 22 mil. $
Box office: 24.1 mil. $
= Big flop
[Fair Game premiered May 20 (Cannes) and runs 108 minutes. Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe were in talks to star in it at an earlier point. It was shot from March - June 2009 in Jordan, Egypt, Malaysia, New York and Washington, D.C.. It was shown in competition in Cannes. It opened #15 to a 651k $ first weekend, peaking in just 436 theaters in North America, where it grossed 9.5 mil.$ (39.4 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 3.4 mil. $ (14.1 %) and Australia with 2.4 mil. $ (10 %). Fair Game is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Fair Game?

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