The new Doug Liman got the right cast, but by the looks of it got the sensitivity all wrong. Fair Game looks and feels like an action thriller, which we have already seen before. The seasoned performers will not be able to save this one.
Naomi Watts will play real life undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame and Sean Penn will don the role of her husband Joe Wilson. The film tells the story in a more personal and boring mode. The film was not received well at the recent screening at the Cannes Film Festival. But the blogs seem to embrace this thriller. The more interesting portions of the film come in the second half where the identity is revealed of Plame.
Here is a plot synopsis via Slashfilm.
A suspense-filled glimpse into the dark corridors of political power, FAIR GAME is a riveting action-thriller based on the autobiography of real-life undercover CIA operative VALERIE PLAME (Naomi Watts), whose career was destroyed and marriage strained to its limits when her covert identity was exposed by a politically motivated press leak. As a covert officer in the CIA’s Counter-Proliferation Division, Valerie leads an investigation into the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Valerie’s husband, diplomat JOE WILSON (Sean Penn), is drawn into the investigation to substantiate an alleged sale of enriched uranium from Niger. But when the administration ignores his findings and uses the issue to support the call to war, Joe writes a New York Times editorial outlining his conclusions and ignites a firestorm of controversy.
Fair Game is expected to come out on November 5 th 2010 in limited release.