Julia Roberts and Clive Owen co-star in the romantic thriller Duplicity, about two security experts who work for rival companies.

Duplicity is a cool espionage thriller with a hot screen couple at its core in Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. As silly as the convoluted plot turns out to be, the movie is about the journey, not the destination.

That makes it a perfect candidate for home entertainment. In theatres, where you want more value, the whimsical Duplicity did not deliver enough substance to go with its kinetic energy. The $60-million movie generated just $78.1 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. $40.6 million was in the U.S. and Canada, lower than expected for Roberts' first starring role in five years.

But, on tomorrow's new DVD and Blu-ray editions, Duplicity does the job, especially when consumed with a dry martini -- shaken, not stirred, because this is James Bond-lite.

The Blu-ray's high definition picture suits Duplicity, because it looks gorgeous under the guidance of cinematographer Robert Elswit. He is the eccentric lighting genius who won an Oscar for There Will Be Blood.

Otherwise, the widescreen-only Blu-ray and DVD share the same limited extras: the commentary by writer-director Tony Gilroy in tanden with his producer-editor brother, John Gilroy. Off-disc, the Blu-ray is BD Live enabled, allowing you to connect with Internet content. Why Universal Studios Home Entertainment does not provide that content on the Blu-ray is an annoyance and a mystery.

As for the commentary, it is superior. Many commentaries are love-fests with verbally impaired directors telling us how great it was to work with all these great actors in such a great project that turned out really great.

That is grating. Tony Gilroy even makes fun of them, just before telling us about his "great" actors. No problem. Gilroy does have a remarkable cast. Besides the Owen-Roberts combination, Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson play the compete-to-the-death CEOs who drive the plot. They employ the spies played by Owen and Roberts, along with fascinating support actors such as Denis O'Hare, Kathleen Chalfant and Carrie Preston in a brazen scene-stealing mode.

Aside from indulging his actors, Tony Gilroy does what others often fail to do: Give the overall project context. One revelation: Gilroy, now established as an A-list Hollywood screenwriter because of the Bourne franchise, originally created Duplicity for Steven Soderbergh.

"I wrote it for Steven with the proviso that, if he didn't want to do it, he wouldn't be like a typical director and hang onto it and crush my dream. But he would set it free ... and he did ... and he became a great friend."

The Duplicity script went through David Fincher and Steven Spielberg's hands before Gilroy got his chance. The key was his directorial debut on Michael Clayton, the Oscar-nominated thriller starring Soderbergh's pal George Clooney. At a Michael Clayton production party, Clooney told Gilroy he should cast Owen in Duplicity, a script Clooney already knew. He then introduced Gilroy to Owen, who had bar-hopped his way into the fete.

"He was so amusing and charming and loose and funny," Gilroy remembers. "When I finished Clayton, I send him the script and he became my co-conspirator immediately. In our very first conversation, he was trying to figure out how to get Julia Roberts to do the movie. It took a while. We sent it to her and she was pregnant and that put a delay in things."

Owen, meanwhile, was eager to work with Roberts again after their collaboration on Mike Nichols dark, sexy drama Closer (2004), which also co-starred Natalie Portman and Jude Law.

"We had a lovely experience working together and I wanted to do that again," Owen recently told Sun Media about Roberts. The die was cast: Duplicity got made. And the DVD and Blu-ray editions tell you how.