Duplicity

We need more filmmakers like Tony Gilroy in Hollywood right now. Coming off of his debut feature Michael Clayton, after years of working on stuff like the Bourne movies, to his second film Duplicity, he's marked some strong territory as a guy who can work with top-shelf A-list talent and put them in material that is mature just enough to make it safe for the 30+ year olds to see it and not think their intelligence is being wasted. His films provide such a wealth of juicy scenes of dialog and plots that make us think about what the characters will do next as opposed to just spoon-feeding along the conventions. And even if Duplicity is not quite as excellent as his first film (and suffice to say it's got a couple of things that make it tick) it's still a marker of fine entertainment. At the least, it makes for a strong matinée viewing, if one were to rate it such.

Like one of those features from the 40s or 50s from Hitchcock where he would place Cary Grant and (insert blonde bombshell here), Duplicity relies on its stars, and sometimes its dependable character actor supporting players, to make it more about watching them and how they go about the material as opposed to the real specifics of what to worry in the plot itself. Hitchcock wasn't worried about what was really in the "secret" formula since he knew, maybe rightfully so, that the audience doesn't really care either. When will Grant and Kelly have that kiss? It's certainly a lot more fun trying to explain how well Clive Owen and Julia Roberts fit into this classic Hollywood couple mold (not to mention since it's their second time on-screen following the more theater-based Closer) and play off one another than describing how "one is a MI6 and the other CIA and their operatives in these corporate firms and one might be making a toaster oven or yada yada and they both do A and B and..."

So yeah, basically Duplicity is about conning and about not believing what the other person is saying, but at the same time Gilroy toys around with the idea of people who are stuck in a world where by proxy they can't trust one another but get each other so well who the other is at the same time. The characters Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti play- who, by the way, share one of the funniest and most awesome opening credits sequences I've seen in years- are playing checkers in their corporate one-oneupmanship games, but it's Roberts and Owen that are playing chess which is a little brainier but trickier at the same time.

One might criticize that there's almost too much of this back-and-forth guessing and curiously trying to figure out what the other is saying about something. But if done right in a film it can be fun to watch just to see what move or motive or revelation will come next. And Gilroy has casted these two stars so perfectly that you can lose yourself in these scenes where they keep playing the same guessing games (some dialog deliberately repeated). This helps especially when the actual plot becomes a little silly, and particularly when it's revealed in the last ten minutes what the big TWIST has occurred. It won't do any good to explain what it is, but suffice to say it's a little too convenient to put into exposition, and it's been done before. In a script that is otherwise sharp and clever and dramatically pleasing in construction and character Gilroy falls back on a couple of tired devices towards the end.

It comes dangerously close, as Ebert pointed out, to saying simply "who cares?" But, thankfully, Duplicity does, for at least roughly in total 2/3 of the running time, give us characters to care about and go along for the ride with and so have this sheer joy of an A-list movie that tries to be about the guessing game and cons and covert operations and the nature of this whole thing Gilroy's dealing with. And the last shot, thankfully, tries to put a good coda on everything that's happened. It's a glossy, breezy time in usually the best way. 7.5/10

Two spies hatch a plan to get rich. This movie is a game pulling the blindfold on everyone, to create a serious tone of grown ups fighting in a sandpit. Hilarious seriousness with great writing and acting to empathise the multi-layered plot. Laughed out loud for most of it, my kind of comedy.

After all the fun, the ending left a sour taste, once taking the blindfold off it was just a sandpit. If you like creative complex comedies this ones for you. Hopefully now you know about the sour ending it won't taste so bad.

"Duplicity" is a movie that thinks it's too clever for its own good, resulting in a convoluted tangle of corporate espionage and deceit that simply fails to capture the audience's interest. From the outset, the film promises an ingenious plot, but what it delivers is a boring and confusing experience that loses its viewers at every turn.

The narrative of "Duplicity" takes its protagonists from Dubai to Italy, from London to Miami, from Cleveland to Zurich, in a marathon of travel that is not just geographical but also temporal. The movie is riddled with constant flashbacks that count back in ever-smaller time segments, supposedly to build tension akin to a bomb about to explode. However, this bomb never goes off with the expected intensity. With each previous encounter revealed, we're supposed to be closer to understanding the master plan, but instead of clarifying, each plot twist only adds more confusion.

Even when you think you've finally deciphered what's going on, "Duplicity" hits you with yet another twist that changes your perception of everything you've just seen, not in an exciting way, but in a manner that feels forced and, frankly, exhausting. The film tries too hard to be smart, but the result is far less refreshing and original than it should have been; instead, it feels like an idea we've seen before, only executed in a way that's so complex it becomes tedious.

Wow, I can't believe how many people are writing that this was too complex and they got lost in the plot. This is only to be expected when movies such as Wolverine pull in +85M on opening weekend. People complain that there are too many dumbed down movies that spoon feed us and treat us like we are stupid, yet those are the movies everyone goes to see. Then we get an intelligent, well directed and well acted movie, that DOES wrap up the loose ends (despite some posters stating differently), and yet people complain it is too complex!

I recommend this movie to anyone with the intellectual capacity to read a book. This is what Oceans 12 and 13 were trying so hard to be!

This movie is like every other movie in the past few years- nothing special. Duplicity's trailer make it seem a lot more fun that what it really is. This should have been an Ocean's movie; it certainly has the talent to be. Clive Owens and Julia Roberts (not really looking very glamorous) are good actors and they are supported by other stellar performers. So why isn't this movie very much fun? Well its the writing. There are a lot of so called twist that can be guessed almost immediately. Only one actually surprises you. Also the dialog is not very witty and it should have been. In fact it repeats itself so much as to be annoying. So in the end what could have been a fun little romp turns boring in the end.