At The Theater #44: Fair Game

Out of the two main characters in Fair Game, I found Naomi Watts’s character Valerie Plame to be the more compelling. There is something insanely interesting about what happens inside the mind of a CIA agent whose cover in blown in such a way that Valerie Plame’s was. It’s one thing if her cover was blown on one mission. But what happened to Valerie Plame was exponentially worse. Her cover was blown on every mission and every party of her life simultaneously. Not only that, her closest friends had no idea she worked for the CIA until they read about in the newspaper. Imagine having to explain a secret as big as that to your friends.

While watching Fair Game, I kept thinking Plame was played by Claire Danes. I can’t believe Naomi Watts is over 10 years older than Danes. She looks so young.

I found it very fascinating to see how she dealt with the aftereffects of her identity being leaked to the press. She operated most of her adult live in secrecy. Her life was compartmentalized where some people thought this about her and some people thought that. To have to juggle all those balls simultaneously just to have them all fall to the ground not due to any fault of her own, but because of political revenge is enough to drive someone mad.

But that’s not what she did. She tried her best to deal with things quietly. This is the part I found most amazing. I feel like if something like that were to happen to me, I would have the same reaction as her husband Joe Wilson and scream it to everyone who would listen.

Is it because I found Joe Wilson’s reaction more relatable that I found him less compelling? I’m not sure. It might be that Joe Wilson is kind of portrayed like an asshole in this movie. He’s either being quietly contemplative or snidely yelling at someone he disagrees with. There’s no middle setting. Repeatedly throughout Fair Game, someone disagrees with Joe Wilson. His reaction is to sit there silently. They’ll say some more things Joe disagrees with. He continues to sit there silently. They throw more on top of the pile. Joe Wilson goes bat-shit crazy and becomes the guy that everyone in the restaurant is staring at because he’s browbeating his friends.

Don’t get me wrong. If I was wronged the way Valerie Plame was by Scooter Libby and company, I’d want Joe Wilson in my corner. The guy was relentless at seeking justice for his wife.

Another reason to reget seeing Cindy Crawford’s Fair Game: If I hadn’t see it already as a teenager, I could have had an At The Theater & On The Couch crossover.

Playing the real life Valerie Plame’s testimony before Congress was a nice touch during the closing credits. I’m glad they added that.

If you find the CIA at all fascinating, you should go out and see Fair Game. It’s an incredibly interesting movie.