Duplicity is all style, no substance.
But what style!
What verve!
What energy!
As written and directed by Tony Gilroy, Duplicity is a romantic comedy set in the spy world. The movie re-unites suave Englishman Clive Owen with faded American movie star Julia Roberts. They co-starred in Mike Nichols' corrosive drama Closer (2004).
Today, he is fresh from a serious spy job in The International. She is kicking her career back up a notch after a period of making babies and focusing on family.
Owen and Roberts play former international espionage agents who, during a joint operation, once passionately shared a hotel bed in Dubai. As characters, they get back together in their new lives -- as high-tech security operatives in the murky depths of the American corporate world. They bicker and banter and remain suspicious of one another. But there is a palpable sexual energy and both stars cheekily appear in the semi-nude during one morning-after scene.
The new operation that brings "the bickerstons" back together involves two companies that deal in soap and other sudsy stuff. These outfits have been at war for years. One is run by Tom Wilkinson, a regal yet lethal CEO. The other is run by Paul Giamatti, a charismatic but impulsive CEO prone to bravado. The two men hate each other. They each employ security agents to spy on the other.
Owen, who comes across charmingly as a contemporary Cary Grant, and Roberts, who is still as annoying as ever, are thrust into the middle of this competitive insanity. With a title like Duplicity, we (the audience) are just like them (the participants). No one ever knows who to trust or what information will turn out to be true and what will be a ruse.
Writer-director Gilroy plays this game as if it were serious. He is, after all, a multi-million-dollar screenwriter who made his name in the Bourne franchise after writing credits on movies as bizarrely varied as The Cutting Edge, Dolores Claiborne, The Devil's Advocate, Armageddon, Bait and Proof of Life.
As a director, Gilroy has a shorter list of accomplishments. He made just one film before. But it was Michael Clayton and he earned Oscar nominations both for his writing and his directing. That is impressive for a first-timer.
Duplicity has a lot of the momentum, flash and structural intrigue of the superior Michael Clayton. But it deliberately has none of that movie's weight and meaning.
In fact, Duplicity is pretty silly when it all works out in the end. This is a wasted opportunity, since so much went into making it look like it was about something.
One note on watching this sucker: When a key conversation happens that makes no sense whatsoever -- and it will, early on -- don't worry. Gilroy will eventually explain it away. You just have to go along for the ride.
Another note: There are flashbacks galore. They are all dated in terms of hours, days, months or years before the main action. While that may sound complicated, it really is not. Duplicity may be duplicitous but it is not hard to figure out when you have all the facts.
Too bad it takes so long to get those facts. For something this lightweight, the 125-minute running time is excessive. In the early days of Hollywood, a breezy entertainment of this sort would be wrapped up, with a romantic bow, in 70 to 90 minutes. Those directors were on to something: If you don't have that much to say, then get it over with fast.
That makes it a lot more fun.
(This film is rated PG)
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