Not only is Fair Game far and away the best film of the year, it is without question destined to be a timeless classic. My wife and I were in complete agreement about its fabulousness, and we discussed the film’s many remarkable qualities for hours afterward. It’s that good!

This film is so efficient that it feels like you watched a totally riveting 3 hour film in 2 hours flat. The amount of fascinating detail that is so skillfully and effortlessly crammed into this film is incredible. The film is completely unrushed in its setup, and I’m having trouble thinking of another film that manages to simultaneously set up so many different story lines without getting bogged down and killing the momentum of the film. The film’s dialog is superb, scene structure is sophisticated and rich, the lead actors are both amazing in their roles, and the supporting casting and acting is excellent down to last.

The basic story is (or should be) well-known: evil Republicans destroyed the career and life of a valuable CIA operative and got scores of innocent people killed just because in their warped view of democracy the President can’t ever be allowed to look bad. But the film also explores in an extremely satisfying way the inner workings of the CIA (both the spectrum of attitudes among its employees and the details of how CIA projects proceed), the psycho-emotional bond Plame had to the CIA, and the gutter mentality of the major media. It also explores the effect Plame’s outing had on her life and on her relationships with her family and friends without ever descending into hysterical “why didn’t you tell me?” rants from her friends, or smarmy, cringe-inducing scenes with the kids. Everything the film tackles it tackles with the utmost dignity and deftness.

Just to pull out a few select moments for additional praise:

Fair Game makes the whole “yellow cake uranium” thing much more interesting than it ever seemed at the time. I’d even go as far to say that it makes it way more interesting than it actually is. Joe Wilson’s initial fact-finding trip that he undertakes for the CIA is just a beautifully done sequence, a classic example of how a skillful set up can propel a movie far beyond the actual content of the set up. I mean, the basic message of the sequence is simply “they didn’t sell yellow cake to Iraq.” But the way it’s done does so much for the narrative energy of the film – modern filmmakers would be wise to study this little sequence, and emulate its techniques.

The scene between Scooter Libby and the CIA supervisor guy (played by Tim Griffin) is an absolute masterpiece. The way they captured how Libby is so intent on twisting what his interviewers are saying that he actually trips over his own ideas as he is talking … well, all I can say is that I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of behavior captured this well in film. Truly a classic scene!

So many little scenes are just perfectly gauged, like the scene where the civilian operative (who infiltrates Iraq for Plame) asks her brother about the Iraq’s weapons development program and the infamous WMD’s. There are so many ways this film could have chosen to communicate to the viewer the fact that Iraq’s weapons program (the moral foundation of our invasion and occupation) was completely destroyed by us after the first Gulf War, but what makes Fair Game so great is that it picks a way that does not make it boring, trivialize it, or create a throw-away scene that kills momentum. Instead, the discussion between these two, hiding out in the garden, away from other family, winds up being the most thrilling way for us to learn that information. I can’t say enough about how this film gets these little choices perfectly right, time and again.

I’d also like to take a moment to appreciate how the film managed to convey effectively (as a tiny subplot) the sense of how it must feel to the peoples of other nations to be viciously bombed by us, the United States. This is something that you don’t see in films very much, and using very little on-screen time they manage nevertheless to do it beautifully and compellingly. We as Americans have no conception of how this must feel to them because we rule the entire world so completely and with such almighty power that there is nothing anyone can do about our military actions. Think about it: who were the innocent civilians of Iraq going to complain to? The UN? We are the UN! If the whole rest of the UN condemns an action that we support, it’s as if they didn’t condemn it at all (Israel’s actions against the Palestinians over the last several decades is the most blatant example of this.) So basically they just have to sit there and get bombed, and wait until we get bored of bombing them or it gets too expensive to continue bombing them, at which point they can (if we don’t then starve them to death with sanctions) try to pick up what little is left of their lives. It’s just nice to see a busy film like this one taking the time to expose Americans to a little of the truth they never see and never think about. Bravo!

Let’s talk about the performances. Naomi Watts has never been a favorite of mine, far from it in fact. But she gives a terrific performance as Valery Plame, simultaneously capturing the complex character of her loyalty to the CIA (in particular, her ridged and dogged integrity) and the equally complex character of her personal life and relationships. Plus, she looks a lot like Valerie Plame. She is completely convincing. In the other lead role, Sean Penn proves again that he is the greatest actor of his generation, and it’s not even close. Penn has no tics – he disappears into roles with marvelous skill. His performance in this film is off-the-charts fabulous! I thought Milk was a great performance, and it was, but this roll is in a way even more impressive, because it is less flashy but he somehow makes it equally memorable.

The only criticism of this film, and it’s a very minor one, is that I found it hard to read the text at the end at the same time as listening to and watching the actual Senate testimony of the real Plame. I would have flashed the text first, and then showed the footage over the credits only. I also might have shown more of the testimony, because by the time you finally get to that moment, you really want to hear her say everything she came to say.

Fair Game is a must-see, as far as I’m concerned. And whatever movie the Academy picks for 2010 best film, if it’s not Fair Game they made the wrong choice.