Fair Game

Fair Game With the exception of Watergate, I can't remember another movie that shows the corruption that abounds within the highest-of-the-high executive offices of our government. This is the story of how a CIA agent was outed and her husband's reputation smeared because he publicly exposed a blatant lie regarding shipment of material to Iraq from Africa. The lie was being used by the Bush Administration to help draw us into a war with Iraq. If you watch television at all you know the lead characters in this film. Valerie Plame, former CIA agent and her former ambassador husband,Joseph Wilson, played by Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. They played their parts with great skill and insight. The movie is a thriller and tells the story very well. The V.P. and his aide Mr. Libby,(Scooter) to those who are his friends, are all there. The aftermath of Valerie's outing comes to life and the suspense builds. Most people who are breathing are aware of this story and no matter your own thoughts on the matter will enjoy this true-to-life drama. You can decide what is fact and what is fiction. However you lean, it is a good movie, well written and well acted. Buy it and enjoy. Read more

Naomi Watts and Sean Penn are excellent in this film as they play Valerie Plame and her husband Joe Wilson. The subject that almost breaks up their marriage is whether Valerie sent Joe to Niger to prove the Bush Adminstration a fraud on the war with Iraq. She didn't. Wilson found no evidence that that country (which the Bush Administration cannot even pronounce correctly) had shipped uranium to Sadam Hussein with which to make nuclear weapons. They could not even get it out of the ground! and would not recognise it if they saw it. The turning point in the film is when a delivery boy flips a daily newspaper on their drive, which "outs" Valerie as the CIA agent who sent Joe to Niger (no luxury there) and allowed the Bush administration to start a war which continues to this day. He wrote an essay the title of which was "What I Did Not Find in Niger." Thereafter their marriage almost breaks up over the Administration's claim that she did send him, which a majority of the country believes. We follow Valerie's heartbreak after she is fired for the supposed leak from a job she loved. The family, with two small twins, starts to crumble. Eventually they find the Libby-Armitage connection to the leak to Bob Novak, a Republican journalist (though I don't recall hearing his name mentioned in the film, probably because he's dead now anyway). If anyone doubts that the Bush Administration was the worst in history, he or she need only see this movie. The one reviewer who gave it a one-star rating is undoubtedly a Republican. Bush, Cheney, and Rice all make cameo appearances as they speak the words that got us into the Iraq mess in which innocent civilians and soldiers lost their lives. Valerie and Joe moved to Santa Fe where I met both. I tried to convince Joe to run for governor, but he declined citing too much public service already. I don't blame him if Bush-Cheney are the epitome of public service. A fine film about political corruption. John K. Crane. Santa Fe Read more

Let's leave this at the door. OK ? - Good movie overall. I would encourage folks to remember what was clearly stated toward the end - We live in a Republic and are ALL responsible for maintaining this great country. This republic is what allows it's citizens to criticize and challenge government officials and allows folks to protest (peacefully - respecting the rights of other innocent citizens). The responsibility of news outlets to "get their facts right" has been a problem for quite some time, typically stating that only rightists or leftists get it wrong is ludicrous. Folks need to use the brain they were born with to think critically - a process which seems to have been lost - which WILL eventually loose us this great Republic. Were all the points in the movie pure "fact", only those who were involved know. Good to respect opposing viewpoints and rationally argue seeing each other as countrymen and countrywomen ad not as Hitlers socialistic ideal society where we turn each other in to the death camps. Challenging movie - very thought provocative. Read more