The Fair Game Trailer: Sean Penn and Naomi Watts Try to Handle the Truth
Because one movie about Plamegate wasn't enough -- raise your hand if you saw Nothing but the Truth -- here comes the trailer for Fair Game, better known around these parts as Doug Liman's self-professed "really great movie." Um, about that: maybe it just needs a better trailer?
Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts stars as Valerie Plame, the covert CIA spy who was outed by the Bush Administration and -- hey, you know what, if you don't remember this story, do a Google search. Perhaps that's the biggest problem with Fair Game -- the beats in the trailer occurred so recently that they lack any spark, any bite, any push to run to a theater. (For what it's worth, when Movieline's David Bourgeois saw the film at Cannes, this was one his main complaints as well.)
It isn't a total disaster -- Watts seems perfectly suited to play the detached and withholding Plame; Sean Penn channels Joe Wilson's sense of intellectual entitlement -- but by the time Watts-as-Plame says, "You can't break me. (Pause for dramatic music cue) I don't have a breaking point," all hope seems lost. Jeff Wells points out that Summit Entertainment should fix this trailer and fast. He's got a point.
VERDICT: Pass.
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Comments
Hey look it's Buffalo Bill's intended victim! "Don't you make me hurt your dog!"
The last time I saw her, she was awkwardly getting written out of Grey's Anatomy.
Please cut the crap. I once believed that there was an audience for films that want to enlighten and intrique. I don't anymore. But even if there were, it wouldn't matter what the Bush administration did or did not, what kind of people the Plames are, much less the state of their marriage. (Full disclosure: I've watched interviews with Valerie and her husband and find them both interesting, articulate, intelligent people.) The questions are: is this a well made film, do the actors give good/excellent performances, is the story well told, can the audience feel invested in the the story because of all the above?
I'm thinking yes to all of the above. This ain't politics, this is entertainment.
Anyone having a mind already set on some political perspectives are not viewing or commenting this as a movie but talking shit well before even seeing the movie . And who the hell is Jeff Wells?