Fair Game (1995)


2.5/4

Starring: William Baldwin, Cindy Crawford, Steven Berkoff, Christopher McDonald, Salma Hayek, Miguel Sandoval

Rated R for Intermittent Strong Violence, Language and a Scene of Sexuality

In general, there are two types of movies: good movies, and bad movies.  However, there are times when the line can be blurred.  For example, the “Kill Bill” movies are “good” movies.  They are well acted, well made, and have coherent storylines.  Yet, I wouldn’t recommend them because they did not work for me.  The reverse is also true.  “Fair Game” is by all standards a “bad” movie.  The acting is flat, often bordering on cringingly bad, the story is ludicrous, and none of the characters have triple-digit IQs.  And yet, the film is undeniably fun because of those qualities.  All in all, I can’t recommend the film, but I will say that it is definitely entertaining.

The storyline, despite being incredibly simple, is often incomprehensible.  Detective Max Kirkpatrick (Baldwin) is tasked with protecting a hot young lawyer named Kate McQuean (Crawford), who was just shot at on the street.  Kate thinks that this is all a big mistake, and Max is willing to leave it at that, until he goes to her apartment to return the pager she left and sees it explode.  Now, they’re on the run from some very nasty people who want Kate dead.

Right.  Enough of that.  The story is the least compelling part of the story.  Neither is the acting, by the way.  William Baldwin is so like his brother Alec that it’s almost as if they found someone else and dubbed in Alec’s voice.  He’s a decent actor, which is all that’s required for the role.  Supermodel Cindy Crawford on the other hand, is a little less impressive (at least acting-wise).  While her thespian abilities may be questionable, she is gorgeous, and Kate is surprisingly likable.  The supporting characters range from okay to laughably bad.  Character actor Christopher McDonald goes so far over the top that he ventures into the afterlife, Steven Berkoff is horrible enough to warrant comparison to Lorenzo Lamas, and Salma Hayek appears in the beginning as Rita, Max’s ex.  James Cameron collaborator Jenette Goldstein, who is usually very good, is almost as bad as Berkoff (next time she wants to work for Cameron, she better hope that he hasn’t seen this movie).

The saving grace are the action sequences, which fortunately outnumber the plot-driven ones.  They’re tightly paced and pretty exciting.  Director Andrew Sipes appears to be taking after Michael Bay in the sense that he cares more about the action scenes than he does the plot or character driven ones.  The problem is that he is working with a terrible script and small-time actors who are blowing their chances for a big break.

But the main problem with the film is the running time.  It’s far too short.  90 minutes is long enough for a decent comedy, but an action movie needs a bit more room to breathe.  It’s obvious to anyone watching the trailer that there are scenes that were left out.  

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