Fair Game

Based on true events, Fair Game follows CIA agent Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) as she attempts to deal with a number of post 9/11 security issues – with problems ensuing after her identity is revealed in the wake of her husband’s (Sean Penn’s Joseph Wilson) involvement in a covert operation. There’s little doubt that Fair Game gets off to a decidedly underwhelming and uninvolving start, as director Doug Liman, working from a script by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth, aggressively emphasizes Plame’s day-to-day exploits as a covert CIA agent – with the frustrating absence of character development during such sequences ensuring that viewer is initially unable to work up any enthusiasm or interest in Plame’s ongoing exploits. The lack of an entry point for the audience ensures that Fair Game‘s opening hour is essentially a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, yet it’s just as clear that the film does improve quite a bit once Plame is forced to deal with the consequences of her exposure. (Having said that, the less-than-subtle bent of the Butterworths’ script does prevent even this section of the film from becoming quite as electrifying as Liman has clearly intended.) The inclusion of an emotionally stirring final 20 minutes ensures that Fair Game concludes on an unexpectedly positive note, although, by that same token, one ultimately can’t help but wish that the remainder of the proceedings had been equally involving and engrossing.

**1/2 out of ****