You gotta give credit to “Fair Game” director Doug Liman. He can keep a straight face while giving some pretty incredulous quotes to the press.
Consider this interview snippet from a Q&A over at Movieline.com regarding the political context of his new movie, a look at the Valerie Plame affair:
I let the politics go. Some of my producers who are more liberal than I am said, “Let’s be more political.” I said, “I’m not going to be more political. I’m interested in these characters, and I’m interested in the politics as we know them to be facts. I’m not going to go after people just because I don’t like them — or because somewhere in my gut I feel they’re guilty even though I don’t actually have any facts to back it up.”’
Those who have seen “Fair Game” realize this is poppycock.
The film has an overt political agenda, making Valerie Plame and hubby Joseph Wilson into heroes – if not applicants for sainthood – and the Bush administration into the real Evil Empire.
Just consider how the film treats Scooter Libby. The only thing missing from actor David Andrews’ portrayal of Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff is the long, wicked moustache to pull on as he plots his nefarious next act.
There’s nothing technically wrong with a filmmaker wielding an ideological axe – even though this critic feels it blinds them from seeing a film’s faults. That’s certainly the case with “Fair Game,” which uses cartoonish dialogue to prop up the film’s heroes and villains.
But let’s be honest about it, shall we?
Just check out The Daily Caller’s takedown of the film’s accuracy – or lack thereof. It’s pretty damning, and even if you argue with some of the points it shows just how political the film really is.
Now, The Daily Caller leans right and Movieline.com leans left, so there’s some hay to be made about ideological angles here. But there’s no wiggle room regarding Liman’s statements. He’s either being insincere or needs to buy a ticket for his own film.
(Photo: Sean Penn plays Joseph Wilson to Naomi Watts’ Valerie Plame in the politically charged spy thriller “Fair Game.” Photo Credit: Ken Regan © 2010 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All rights reserved.)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
We’ve seen this same arc many times before. Obvious left wing slant movie bombs hugely preceded and or immediately followed by lots of “it’s not really political” commentary from the principles involved.
Liars.
K – Often it’s before the movie even has a chance to bomb … they know slanted films will repel a segment of the movie going public, so they pretend their films are fair and balanced.
Did you check out the USA Today write of of this today. They give the film 3 stars and nowhere does it mention the obvious flaws in it, specifically Richard Armitage’s role in the Plame affair. Which leaves me to wonder what film did they see? If you were grading on how the film looks I would say it’s fairly typical. If you were grading on the story itself I would have mentioned to readers to do a little research and then view the film while knowing the facts.
It’s like JFK. I love JFK, and find it to be a highly entertaining film, but I know it’s total BS as far as a history goes. Gerald Ford once said that one of his younger relatives saw JFK and told him “Now I understand” to which Ford replied “No you don’t” and then told this relative Ford’s take on the event (Ford was a member of the Warren Commission)
As a film, I would deem Fair Game subpar or average. As a history, it fails completely.
That’s why the biases reviewers bring to the table are so important. I’m fairly transparent with my thoughts on this blog. But if I got a gig reviewing films for, say, USA Today, I would bend over backwards, forwards and hire a yoga instructor to be as balanced as possible with my critiques. I fear most critiques don’t even bother with that. One exception – Roger Moore is left of center but does a nice job playing his reviews straight. He’s more transparent in his beliefs on his blog.