Fair Game (2010)

I am not what one would call politically savvy. Sure, I could watch the news and find out what is going on around me, but I generally prefer to keep my viewing light and fluffy. So I did not think I would be too much of a fan of the film Fair Game, recently released on home video, which details the beginnings of the latest war on Iraq. Within a few minutes however, the film had me hooked, in no small part due to the skills of its two leads, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.

Naomi Watts (The Ring, King Kong) starts as real ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame, who is heading a big investigation into whether or not Iraq is in possession of nuclear weapons. The CIA has also enlisted the help of Plame's husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn), a retired ambassador, to determine if Saddam Hussein purchased uranium from Niger to aid in the development of nuclear weapons.

Joe returns back from Niger and informs the CIA that he does not believe any weapons passed from Niger to Iraq. Joe is thanked for his time, and his findings are considered along with many others, most of which indicate that Saddam is not in possession of nuclear capabilities.

But of course the story did not end there, and the war on Iraq did take place. Joe is outraged at this chain of events, and pens an article lashing out at the Bush administration. Soon Valerie's identity is leaked to the media, which is quite a dangerous situation for someone who is involved in some very volatile situations.

From there, the Wilsons' lives are turned upside down. Valerie begins to receive death threats and is refused protection by the government. She prefers to stay lowkey during this whole fiasco. Meanwhile her husband Joe takes the opposite approach, fighting a war with the White House through the media, accusing them of putting his wife's name out there. All of this understandably leads to marital troubles.

Both Watts and Penn are terrific, as one would expect. While he may get a lot of headlines based on his political activism, and whomever he is romantically linked to at the time, Penn deserves to gain the most notoriety for his on screen work. He has two Best Actor Oscar statues already in the bag, and was worthy of at least a nomination for his work in this film. Penn is excellent, but this is really Watts' film, and she delivers one of her finest performances.

Fair Game is a very good film that will keep you riveted regardless of your knowledge of the dirty dealings that oftentimes happen in Washington.

Fair Game was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 26.

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars