Fair Game 2010

Tom Long, Detroit News: Fair Game" is such a brutal and personal testimony to the consequences of dirty politics that it often feels too ugly to be true. Unfortunately, it is. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: For every spycraft scene, every illustration of the deadly blowback from the leak that Liman dramatizes, the movie has half a dozen scenes of a delicately balanced home life turned on its head by a government bent on destroying one of its critics. Read more

Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies: The only honest work in Fair Game comes from Naomi Watts, an actress who couldn't cheat if she wanted to. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Things worked out between Joe and Valerie, and for their real-life models, who are now the subjects of a terrifically entertaining movie. But that does not mean that justice was done, or that truth prevailed. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: While it's convincing as a political thriller, Fair Game is, in some ways, actually more intriguing as an examination of a marriage under pressure, the kind none of us could possibly imagine Read more

David Fear, Time Out: To reduce their story to a handwringer for housewives that's laden with protest-sign sloganeering seems, frankly, unfair. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Exposed, abandoned, branded as traitors, the Wilsons finally have no choice but to tell their story, the latest chapter of which is this potent Hollywood melodrama starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Most of the scenes depicting the couple's domestic life are borderline-banal, and they miniaturize the political drama that plays out partly in public, partly in the shadows but almost always in a middle distance just beyond emotional reach. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Doug Liman's "Fair Game" is written as a drama and paced as a thriller, and it works just fine both ways. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Liman gives the action the you-are-there immediacy that distinguished his earlier tale of international intrigue, The Bourne Identity. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A strident, condescending Hollywood melodrama. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: You'd have to go back to All the President's Men for a better example of fresh American political scandal being turned into slam-bang, star-powered drama. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Liman's sensibility isn't sophisticated enough to tease out the nuances of what must be a pretty interesting marriage; the movie is more about texture and surfaces and surface tensions. But it moves. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Naomi Watts settles for semi-inscrutability while Penn, engaging as he is, is encouraged, particularly toward the end, to deliver his performance from the lectern. Read more

Christopher Kelly, Dallas Morning News: What the filmmakers do capture brilliantly is the human cost of espionage and political gamesmanship. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Fair Game gets you riled up all over again at a deeply unpatriotic abuse of power. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: The film is OK, but with more nuance and less message-hammering it could have been great. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: The riveting, flesh-and-blood story behind the headlines. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It seems to be doing everything right but still doesn't manage to leave you with a completely satisfied feeling. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Real-world political melodrama, with obvious good and bad guys, but intelligent and well acted. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: There's a radical lesson in this story about the ways of permanent government and protect-their-own professionals ... But that's one that this film is too polite, safe and self-satisfied to ever bring to the screen -- let alone get in focus. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Though based on a true story with a well-known outcome, Doug Liman's "Fair Game" is as suspenseful as any fictional thriller -- and considerably more tragic. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Unless your pulse races at the mention of Robert Novak, you'll be underwhelmed. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Clears up the murky facts and shines a klieg light on the dark, shadowy corridors of the George Bush White House. The story takes on a vital new importance. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's a real-life spy drama. It's human drama. It's political drama. And it's engrossing, all around. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Nearly the equal of All the Presidents Men as a riveting procedural, even though we know the outcome. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: What's effective is how matter-of-fact Fair Game is. This isn't a lathering, angry attack picture. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Naomi Watts and Sean Penn bring ferocity and feeling to their roles, turning a potent political thriller into a stirring, relatable human drama. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The spectacle is irresistible, as Liman and screenwriters Jez and John-Henry Butterworth unspool a story all about truth versus lies, professionals versus amateurs, villains versus heroes and patriots versus posturing careerists. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A triumph on all counts. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The blind-siding of Valerie Plame wasn't fair and wasn't a game, but this cinematic outcome is a touchdown for true patriots. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It starts with thriller cliches and ends in sanctimonious preaching, but in between there are a couple of true things: a portrait of a marriage under stress, and a depiction of the arrogance of power that leaves a sharp after-burn. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: This isn't a message movie, per se, but a strong point of view comes through regardless: In the battle of principles vs. politics, politics always win. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: An absorbing, unhysterical thriller that largely rejects the cliches of the genre. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Liman skillfully intercuts television news footage of the president and administration officials with a skilled cast of actors. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Fair Game serves up impeccable politics with a bit too much righteous outrage and not quite enough solid drama. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: The film's assertion of Plame and Wilson as real people rather than characters consists mostly of draining them of anything compelling. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A crackling political thriller that deftly navigates the knife edge between all-too-familiar recent history and more universal personal drama. Read more