Cover Art

Credits

Director: Mario Orfini Starring: Trudie Styler, Gregg Henry, Bill Moseley Screenplay: Lidia Ravera, Mario Orfini Music:Giorgio Moroder Country: Italy AKA: Mamba

Naturally, I outgrew this paranoia as I got older, but one night in my early double digits, everyone in my family was gone. A high school reunion had called away the only family member even in the same region as me, and that person didn't get home till after 3:00 a.m. Being able to watch whatever I wanted on the pay channels, I recklessly careened through hours of things I shouldn't have been viewing. And then I hit Fair Game. 1:00 in the morning. A movie that played off of the one thing I'd always irrationally feared. Of course, I had to watch.

Years later, I happened to read Venom, and became obsessed with seeing the film adaptation as well as seeing Fair Game again. Trouble was, I'd forgotten Fair Game's title, so it took some researching to find it. Seriously, though, Fair Game? The 'game' isn't fair, it's highly rigged. Plus, that title makes it sound like the sort of dumb action movie Cindy Crawford would star in. It shoulda had a name revolving around the snake, like it should have been called Mamba, or something. Oh, wait, it was called Mamba, but some idiot renamed it. Jerk.

Fair Game is about Mrs. Sting leaving her bastard of a husband. He doesn't cope well with the split, and decides that to get even he'll lock her in her new flat with a highly venomous Mamba snake. But just locking her up with one of the world's deadliest snakes isn't enough, he also injects the reptile with hormones, making it sexually revved up. This leaves the snake producing even more venom than usual, so it has to bite, making it even more dangerous. Mrs. Sting spends a bit of time unaware she's got a visitor, then freaks out when she finds out about her new friend, and all the while her ex watches a simulation from a computer screen. I'm not sure why he's so upset she left, she seems like an utter fruitcake, talking to herself all the time and doing interesting things involving fire and boots.

Fair Game is very 80s, especially the score by Giorgio Moroder, who won an Oscar for Top Gun's "Take My Breath Away," and the computer program the husband uses to watch the non-wife. The plot line is very contrived, but the handling of the material is surprisingly good, especially considering that a cast of, oh, four have to carry the whole thing. And that total includes the delivery boy cameo. It's not easy to keep things interesting with only two main characters and a small enclosure, but Fair Game does well. I'm not sure it was necessary to supe up the mamba, and maybe a side effect of that augmenting is the reason the snake is a bit slow moving. The injection must've really messed the snake up regardless, because while it has to bite, it also flees at times and disappears completely in the finale.