6.8/10
45,727
150 user 214 critic

Fair Game (2010)

Trailer
2:09 | Trailer
CIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is allegedly leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration.

Director:

Doug Liman

Writers:

Jez Butterworth (screenplay), John-Henry Butterworth (screenplay) | 2 more credits »
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Popularity
1,656 ( 133)
4 wins & 8 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Naomi Watts ... Valerie Plame
Sonya Davison Sonya Davison ... Chanel Suit
Vanessa Chong Vanessa Chong ... Tabir Secretary #1
Anand Tiwari ... Hafiz
Stephanie Chai Stephanie Chai ... Tabir Secretary #2
Sean Penn ... Joe Wilson
Ty Burrell ... Fred
Jessica Hecht ... Sue
Norbert Leo Butz ... Steve
Rebecca Rigg ... Lisa
Brooke Smith ... Diana
Tom McCarthy ... Jeff
Ashley Gerasimovich ... Samantha Wilson
Quinn Broggy Quinn Broggy ... Trevor Wilson
Nicholas Sadler ... CIA Tour Leader
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Storyline

Plame's status as a CIA agent was revealed by White House officials allegedly out to discredit her husband after he wrote a 2003 New York Times op-ed piece saying that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq. Written by anonymous

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Inspired by true events. See more »


Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

View content advisory »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The screenwriter brothers, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth, interviewed scores of people, including former intelligence personnel, journalists, lawyers and congressmen. Along with producer Janet Zucker, they attended the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby [Lewis Libby], the only government official to be charged in the Plame Case. Eventually, they were allowed to read Valerie Plame Wilson's memoir "Fair Game", but only after it had been released in a heavily redacted form by the CIA's Publications Review Board. See more »

Goofs

Dr. Zahra's flight boarding pass is shown to have combined English and Arabic text, however, the Arabic part does not mean anything in the Arabic Language. These words are literal pronunciation of the English words (Name/From/To). If these Arabic words were spoken by an Arab, you would hear him say Name/From/To, which means nothing in Arabic. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Valerie Plame: [arriving at Kuala Lumpur airport] Jessica McDowell, Gnosos Chemicals.
Chanel Suit: [on elevator] When do you leave Kuala Lumpur, Miss McDowell?
Valerie Plame: I fly to Taiwan Tuesday, then back to Düsseldorf.
See more »

Crazy Credits

Also in the closing credits, various letters are shown yellow, among the primarily white letters of the credits -- these letters seem to form a cipher code:

CES?OAPCHFHTEOPISFMNADAMECAOREDATNRAYUURNQWKNUFRCOJRWRMDGSEHUWTOAKRA

(the question mark at the fourth letter in the code is used instead of a letter, as one of the redacted surnames, as mentioned in another trivia item, is colored yellow) See more »

Alternate Versions

According to Decider.com, the changes in the 2018 director's cut are: -The new version runs 1 hour and 54 minutes to the original's 1 hour and 48 minutes
  • The Director's Cut shows Plame leading a quiet raid on a shipping facility in order to intercept a detonator
  • A scene where Wilson expresses his frustration and fear that he can't know where Plame is being sent or whether she's okay
  • A short scene airs after a clip of Bush giving his State of the Union speech where he alluded to Iraq's use of uranium, where we see Iraq at dusk, peaceful, before the U.S. shock-and-awe bombing began
  • An extended scene between Plame and her friend Diana (Brooke Smith) after Plame's cover has been blown
  • An extension of a scene where Plame and Wilson argue in their kitchen
  • A scene where Joe is harassed at a restaurant and he yells back at the woman is trimmed up a bit
  • A closing montage of Wilson speaking at various college lectures is re-edited
  • The final scene of Naomi Watts as Plame testifying before Congress has been swapped for different shots
  • The postscript: "In 2018 President Trump gave Libby a full pardon."
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.11 (2011) See more »

Soundtracks

My Block
Written by Ali Dee (as Ali Theodore), Zach Danziger and Julian Davis (as Julian Michael Davis)
Performed by Cham Pain
Courtesy of DeeTown Entertainment
See more »

User Reviews

 
You're a good agent. But it's over.
10 March 2011 | by supah79See all my reviews

Those were the words of Valerie Plame's superior right before he fired her. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. If you cross paths with the most powerful people in the world: you get broken in half. It's that simple. Fair Game is my kind of movie: real characters, real people, real events. This movie confirms everything I already knew or suspected, but this is powerful stuff. If you ever felt overwhelmed or helpless: try these guy's shoes for a week in that awful period between 2003 and 2005.

Hollywood is getting out of it's shell after the 2000-2008 period in which the Hawk's reintroduced a period of McCarthyism. Hollywood became a propaganda machine for Bush: 'Support the troops, don't you love America?' I still see the images of the speech at the Oscars Michael Moore gave: "Shame on you Mr. President". The room booed and cheered at the same time, but the front row with every A-list actor you can think of, sat quiet and didn't move. They said nothing. Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame did not stay quiet. It's hard to comprehend that these events didn't happen 50 years ago. They happened less than 10 years ago. The White House created a smokescreen that very few people could see through. Those who did were outnumbered and slaughtered. Thank God for the educational purposes of cinema.

The Green Zone, Body of Lies and such are movies which tried to point out the errors in foreign policies, but Fair Game says it out loud: they wanted a war and the would stop at nothing to get it. Destroy anything or anyone who gets in the way. Most members of that White House got a slap on the wrist and are now giving $100.000 lectures.

Doug Liman has made his best movie yet. He has now made my list of accomplished directors. It's topnotch on a technical level and at a dramatic level. Liman leaves out any information the viewer knows or should be able to piece together for themselves. The script got me from start to finish. So did the actors.

No, there not much wrong with this movie. That's why it pains me that it bombed at the box-office. These kinda movies should be celebrated for their courage. But no, movies like Inception get all the attention. And nobody cares over hundreds of thousands civilians died because of the Iraq-war.


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Frequently Asked Questions

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Details

Language:

English | Arabic | French

Release Date:

3 December 2010 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

Enjeux See more »

Filming Locations:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$22,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$651,082, 7 November 2010

Gross USA:

$9,540,691

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$25,806,953
See more on IMDbPro »

Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

| (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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