Humble Opinion

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I'm standing with photographers in the nearly-packed Salle de Conference with the Fair Game press encounter about to happen, but I have time to say this: Fair Game is a stirring, suspenseful and immensely satisfying adult drama, brilliantly directed and written and acted, especially in the latter case by Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.

I've been hoping to like it all along, but the complexity and intelligence brought to bear upon the story of Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame vs. the Bush administration -- a tale of courage, cowardice, betrayal and bureaucratic denial all wrapped up into one -- still came as a surprise.

Everyone who's been taking shots at me for seeming too interested in or optimistic about Fair Game will now have to grovel and eat crow. I'm expecting reader posts to that effect. You know who you are.

I really and truly wasn't expecting it to be quite this deft and assured. It seems to me like a revival of the spirit of the paranoid Alan Pukula of the '70s with governmental-spook flavorings that harken back to Costa-Gavras and John LeCarre (or, more particularly, the British TV adaptation of Smiley's People).

This is Doug Liman's best film by far, a Best Picture nomination waiting to happen, and a possible Palme d'Or. Really.

I asked Liman at the press conference about cynical expectations I've heard and read that delivering a crisp and complex political-emotional drama on the level of Pakula or Costa-Gavras was perhaps beyond the reach of the guy who directed Mr. and Mrs. Smith and especially Jumper. Liman recognized there was reason for people to think this given past career "mistakes," but said "this is the kind of film I've always wanted to make." Obviously proud and satisfied, and good for that.

Cheers also to co-screenwriters Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth, who've managed to weave together a mountain of facts, scenes, reportings, emotional moments, anecdotes, milieus and atmospheres into a wonderfully rich and complex whole that has a theme and a point.

Few things in life make me happier or deliver a better all-is-right-with-the-world feeling than grade-A films which expose right-wing scumbaggery with just the right amounts of care, precision and restraint. In this sense seeing Fair Game has been an especially delightful way to end my Cannes 2010 experience.

Branded<< previous | next >>Fair Enough

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on May 20, 2010 at 1:50 AM

comment #1

Jonathan Spuij says ...

Heh, that's good to hear. Do you think it's time for such a political film choice again after Fahrenheit 9/11?

Posted by Jonathan Spuij at May 20, 2010 2:16 AM

comment #2

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Yes, I think it's time for such a political film choice after Fahrenheit 9/11....whatever that means. How many years ago was that film out? That was then, this is now.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at May 20, 2010 7:01 AM

comment #3

Glenn Kenny says ...

That's Cobble Hill park, in my neighborhood, in that clip.

There. I just wanted to be the first twit to point that out.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at May 20, 2010 7:46 AM

comment #4

paul_kolas says ...

I have a former "friend" who recently joined the Tea Party and now has - embarrassingly - a banner in front of his condo proclaiming "socialism blows". What I would do to strap him into a chair - a la Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange" - and make him watch this over and over Ludovico Style until his eyes and ears bleed.

Posted by paul_kolas at May 20, 2010 7:56 AM

comment #5

CitizenKanedForPostingThoughts says ...

If a Doug Liman film ever wins the fucking Palme d'Or I think it's time for me to eat one of Herzog's shoes.

Posted by CitizenKanedForPostingThoughts at May 20, 2010 8:18 AM

comment #6

crazynine says ...

Who is cast as Richard Armitage? IMDB doesn't say.

Posted by crazynine at May 20, 2010 8:19 AM

comment #7

CitizenKanedForPostingThoughts says ...

Well, I guess one of his Nike commercials with Tiger Woods did win the Palme d'Or already...never knew that. Good thing I specified film.

Posted by CitizenKanedForPostingThoughts at May 20, 2010 8:23 AM

comment #8

Travis Crabtree says ...

Serious question for Wells....

What percentage of your enjoyment of this film have to do with it being a quality piece of filmed entertainment and how much of it came from seeing those lousy conservatives get their comeuppance?

I mean it. I love these kinds of films, generally, but not if their main raison d'etre is to provide soothing self-satisfaction to the MSNBC crowd.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

I say this as someone who considers "All the President's Men" one of the best films ever made.

Posted by Travis Crabtree at May 20, 2010 9:14 AM

comment #9

Carol Reed's Angel Erection says ...

@Travis:
See also:Nothing But the Truth (and JW's reaction to said film).

Posted by Carol Reed's Angel Erection at May 20, 2010 10:23 AM

comment #10

4th grade army says ...

I love the spy genre when done right. If this is as good as Wells says, I'll have to change my opinion of Liman, who I think is good but not a great driector. This is very tough material to tread through and I hear the politics recedes to the background and it becomes, much like a Le Carre novel -- less about politics and more about complex people in fucked up situations. True?

Posted by 4th grade army at May 20, 2010 11:01 AM

comment #11

Jeffrey Wells says ...

"What percentage of your enjoyment of this film has to do with it being a quality piece of filmed entertainment and how much of it came from seeing those lousy conservatives get their comeuppance?," I was asked by Travis Crabtree.

I'd say it's about 80-20. 80% of my satisfaction came from Fair Game being a complex, well ordered, very well-written film that tells a good Washington, D.C./Middle East/yellowcake story in a straightforward, relatively low-key way (like All The President's Men), and 20% because it kicks Bush-ian, Rove-ian and Libby-ish neocon ass.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at May 20, 2010 11:08 AM

comment #12

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to 4th grade army: True.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at May 20, 2010 11:09 AM

comment #13

Travis Crabtree says ...

Cool. I'll be there for the 80%.

Posted by Travis Crabtree at May 20, 2010 11:23 AM

comment #14

SaveFarris says ...

I have to admit: Sean Penn has the preening-jackass-ism of Joe Wilson down pat!

Posted by SaveFarris at May 20, 2010 1:05 PM

comment #15

moviesquad says ...

Wells: Liman will never, never, never top Swingers. This probably doesn't come anywhere close to the greatness of that movie... although a lot of the credit for Swingers probably should go to Favreau and Vaughn.

Posted by moviesquad at May 20, 2010 3:47 PM

comment #16

lily2010 says ...

Well, I guess one of his Nike commercials with Tiger Woods did win the Palme d'Or already...never knew that. Good thing I specified film.
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Posted by lily2010 at May 20, 2010 8:20 PM

comment #17

Jack South P.I. says ...

Glenn - I saw them filming at Buttermilk Channel too...

Posted by Jack South P.I. at May 20, 2010 10:04 PM

comment #18

Chinaski94 says ...

SaveFarris

Funny that you probably see Joe Wilson as the villain of this film.

Biased? You? Never.

Posted by Chinaski94 at May 21, 2010 12:15 AM

comment #19

hateselfrighteouslibs says ...

Sounds like an utterly engrossing pic, I must say. BTW Wells, how old are you, 14? Have you ever met a conservative, or do you and your echo chamber crowd just wet yourselves over conservatives' scumbaggery?

Posted by hateselfrighteouslibs at May 21, 2010 9:33 AM

comment #20

Chinaski94 says ...

Whatever you say, thunderballs.

Posted by Chinaski94 at May 21, 2010 9:46 AM

comment #21

hateselfrighteouslibs says ...

Chinaski94:
Regarding the jackass Joe Wilson, regardless of his and his wifes' self serving whining about her desk job being outed, the real villain was Richard Armitage, or do you not read anything other than Media Matters and the Huffington Post?

Posted by hateselfrighteouslibs at May 21, 2010 10:03 AM

comment #22

Chinaski94 says ...

Whatever you say, thunderballs.

Don't stop believin'...

Posted by Chinaski94 at May 21, 2010 11:14 AM

comment #23

Snoop Marlo says ...

This movie gives me a 'The Interpreter' vibe. A movie with very good advanced word of mouth that ultimately became a movie that people just forget about 6 months later.

Posted by Snoop Marlo at May 21, 2010 11:27 AM

comment #24

hateselfrighteouslibs says ...

Feelings (sung to the tune of "Feelings"), all you libs have feelings;
nothing more than feelings;
who needs facts with feelings;
they alone guide my heart;

feelings, whoa whoa whoa feelings
whoa whoa whoa feelings;
you brains can handle nothing more.

Sniff, i need to blow my nose
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Posted by hateselfrighteouslibs at May 21, 2010 12:39 PM

comment #25

Bob Hightower says ...

Jeff, in writing "Alan Pukula," are you making a rude
pun and implying that the great Alan Pakula makes you puke?

Posted by Bob Hightower at May 21, 2010 2:03 PM

comment #26

Chinaski94 says ...

"Feelings (sung to the tune of "Feelings"), all you libs have feelings;
nothing more than feelings;
who needs facts with feelings;
they alone guide my heart;

feelings, whoa whoa whoa feelings
whoa whoa whoa feelings;
you brains can handle nothing more.

Sniff, i need to blow my nose
smoochers!!"

Is this the only wit available? I was told there would be some real wit available.

Nice try, thunderballs.

Posted by Chinaski94 at May 21, 2010 9:53 PM

comment #27

hateselfrighteouslibs says ...

chinaski94:
Ouch, that hurt. I cried in my pillow all night last night

Posted by hateselfrighteouslibs at May 22, 2010 7:12 AM

comment #28

Chinaski94 says ...

No way can I take full credit for making you cry all night. I'd have to assume a lifetime of regrets and rejections should get most of the credit.

Posted by Chinaski94 at May 22, 2010 10:00 AM

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