SaMoFilmGuy

Not without some stirring scenes, particularly near the end (when the story finally declares it's about a marriage more than anything else), FAIR GAME is overall pretty much of a loser. The filmmakers are unsure if they want to present an HBO-style docudrama or actually dramatize the life of two reactive protagonists, and the confusion mars the film. We never believe Penn and Watts are really parents to those puppet-ed twins in the story, and other props, like Watts' sagacious dad (a good Sam Shepherd) are wheeled out only at the end. Friends of the couple seem distant and again, used as conveniences. The final sequence illustrates what the story could have really been about: the threats to a marriage from outside forces, but then the focus all along would have had to have been on the marriage itself, more than the political machinations affecting it. This would have been a real challenge as a movie, but one worth undertaking. As it is, Fair Game loses its match.

Unattractive leads, a boring story and characters who all sound like they're rejects from a bad Woody Allen script combine to make this film unwatchable. The filmmakers display an incredible lack of talent from their slight plot to their casting failures to their inability to even make the film look good. In this era of cheap digital production there is no excuse for a film looking as bad as this. Who did their lighting? Obviously their egos got in the way of getting better actors for the leads, but did no one point out the meandering story or see in the dailies how bad the film was shot? Maybe friends aren't just those who'll give you money to make a film. Maybe real friends are those who tell you you're on the wrong path.