This movie oversteps the 'dramatic license' allowance

Rating: 4/10 (29 May 2007)

Coupla things (no pun on Francis-Ford intended) about this movie. (spoilersbelow)
First, some minor details that bugged me--things that really violated what I consider to be reasonable dramatic license in plot lines or scenes, (not in order of seriousness): 1. The photos of Wilson in the cab during his brief affair with the deaf woman. That fling was a completely spontaneous thing, and his meetings with the Ulysses guy (after which that fling followed) would have been scheduled in utter secrecy. So how would someone have been following him to get these photos? Even if it were the Russians--who would have known of the meeting through Ulysses--they would have gained little or nothing from trying to meddle in his personal dealings with his wife. They're not after that kind of dirt on him, and risking blowing their cover by giving her the photos would be like the FBI blowing their cover on a years-long sting operation by giving their quarry a traffic ticket. It made no sense. And Angelina Jolie's character wouldn't have had him followed--first, I don't think she really cared that much, and besides--he's the top spy--he wouldn't have been found out by some second-rate private-eye.
2. Her (Angelina Jolie's) reaction to his affair was way, way out of line with her character. She'd already admitted she had an affair, and he was basically an absentee husband and father, they both knew the marriage was utterly baseless. So why would she be so upset? She said she was 'humiliated'. How? Nobody else knew about the photos but her. Why make a scene like she did--that's the only thing that humiliated her.
3. The thing with the son and that girl was so far out of sync with any reality that it really ruined the whole movie for me. First, I'd guessed it at the moment his son asked to join the CIA. And that was really the central part of the movie--from beginning to end they were trying to figure out the tape and the sounds and all that. Back then, a transatlantic love-affair in the Congo would have been exceedingly difficult to both conduct and especially hide--even from an absentee father. There were several other things that were out of bounds but once a movie oversteps that 'dramatic license' boundary once or twice, the rest don't matter--the movie is ruined.
Also, this movie broke rule #1 (in my opinion): For a movie to be really likable, you need to have a central character that you either like, understand, or can at least relate to in some way or another. Wilson was like a piece of cardboard. Like the one line said "There can't be two of you".
Finally, for this to be interesting I think you'd have to have some prior knowledge on the subject, ie, have read at least a book or two on it to catch and/or follow some of the highly enigmatic dialog. I've read several non-fiction works on this, as well as some 'based on fact' fiction books, and fortunately *some* of the subject matter was familiar and semi-interesting. But this movie couldn't make up it's mind as to whether it wanted to be a 'based on fact' fictional movie, or a pure fantasy fiction piece. It mixed them and therefore sold itself short on each one.
--Jim