In July 2003, former UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly died after a high-profile appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee to answer questions about the so-called ‘dodgy dossier’ of evidence about weapons of mass destruction. On the other side of the Atlantic, CIA operations officer Valerie Plame was in a media storm after her own government had seemingly blown her cover to discredit her husband, who had been highly critical of the Bush administration.

She became a focal point for the anger and confusion of a nation struggling to understand the decision to invade Iraq based on apparently flawed intelligence data. Plame endured trial by media and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, chronicled their ordeal in his 2004 book, The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies That Led to War and Betrayed My Wife’s CIA Identity: A Diplomat’s Memoir. She followed suit three years later with her versions of events, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House. Doug Liman, director of The Bourne Identity and Mr & Mrs Smith, relives the fraught period in this dialogue-heavy thriller adapted from the memoirs by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth.

In the film, Valerie (Naomi Watts), whose CIA status is unknown to almost her entire circle of family and friends, is caught in the crossfire when her husband Joe (Sean Penn) writes a scathing opinion piece for The New York Times. A subsequent article in The Washington Post exposes Valerie and she is shunned by colleagues, including Jack McAllister (Michael Kelly), who need to protect their own identities.

Fair Game is a gripping snapshot of the events leading up to the war in Iraq and the subsequent fallout for Valerie, Joe and their family. The script tries to avoid taking sides, despite the source material, by providing a clear and concise timeline of events in the corridors of power as the possibility of war became a sickening reality. The knot in our stomachs tightens with each passing frame as Valerie and Joe witness events spiralling out of control, and the terrible price they must pay for daring to lift the veil of secrecy.

Watts and Penn deliver riveting, impassioned performances, laying bare the rage and disappointment that slowly threatens to tear their marriage apart at a time when they most need a united front.

Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate) are sick and tired of their husbands Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) ogling other women in Hall Pass. So at the suggestion of their friend Dr Lucy (Joy Behar), an advocate of reactance theory — the notion that if you limit someone’s choices, they will rebel and choose what they cannot have — the women grant their spouses ‘hall passes’ for one week.

Rick and Fred hit the town with pals Gary (Stephen Merchant), Hog Head (Larry Joe Campbell) and Flats (JB Smoove) in tow.

Meanwhile, Maggie and Grace leave town with the children and babysitter Paige (Alexandra Daddario), and find pleasing distractions of their own: namely college baseball coach Rick (Bruce Thomas) and big-hitting protégé, Gerry (Tyler Hoechlin).

Thank goodness for Fischer and Applegate, who are luminous and sweeten this otherwise bitter and twisted pill. Like the relationship comedy The Dilemma, Hall Pass suffers from a major credibility problem with the pairings of the central characters. The men are artless schmucks, who have somehow managed to walk down the aisle with feisty and sexy women.