Penn, Watts reunite in ‘Fair Game’

When: Opening Friday at local theaters

Cast: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Ty Burrell, Sam Shepard

Director: Doug Liman

The story: When former diplomat Joe Wilson criticizes the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq in a New York Times op-ed piece, White House officials retaliate — by blowing the cover of his wife, CIA operative Valerie Plame.

The buzz: This fact-based drama — based on Plame’s memoir "Fair Game" and Wilson’s "The Politics of Truth" — reunites Penn and Watts, who previously starred in 2003’s "21 Grams." But director Liman ("The Bourne Identity," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith") has his own personal perspective on Washington, D.C., politics; his father, attorney Arthur L. Liman, served as chief counsel for the Senate’s investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair during the Reagan administration.