Wick's Review

Summary - OK 2.5

This confusing movie dupes not just its backstabbing characters. Viewers too may get get lost in the to-and-fro time jumping. Admittedly, I saw Duplicity on the small screen of a coach cabin, so the sound wasn’t great nor the legibility of the title cards very good. (“3 Days Earlier”, “4 Days Later”, etc.) Still the plot payoff didn’t seem worth the effort, especially given the charisma and chemistry deficits of Julia Roberts – especially – and Clive Owen.

Acting - Good 3.0

Julia Roberts plays cool crisply. As a pretty woman capable of driving men off their rockers however, she’s long since a poseur.

Clive Owen does fine, albeit he’s hardly a Cary Grant-class charmer, which is what this movie could have used.

Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti – great actors both – shine as rival CEOs consumed with executive megalomania.

Film - OK 2.5

Writer-director Tony Gilroy utilizes title cards to establish hither and yon scene timing, a difficult device that fails here. Even more than with his Michael Clayton, he’s indulged his too-clever-by-half tendencies with this movie. Plus his dyspeptic view of business – while trendy on the Left side of town from whence he sprang – is a bit unhinged.

Edge - Risqué 1.6

Insufficiently edgy for a grown up romantic-thriller.

Reality - Glib 1.3

Does the world work this way? No. MI6 agents don’t moonlight as corporate spies. Corporations don’t brazenly steal patentable concoctions, let alone announce them in advance of FDA approvals. Lefty Entertainment-Industrial Complex players like Tony Gilroy might imagine it to be so, but it ain’t.

2 Comments

• Wick Aug 1, 2009 12:40AM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  Yeah, we can certainly agree it’s a damn poor choice for an airline movie.

  I was a good ten minutes into it before realizing there were titles announcing the time shifts. WTF! Duplicity indeed.

• jasonhurwitz Jul 30, 2009 9:14PM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  Haha, I started to watch this movie, but (perhaps) luckily, I couldn’t finish it due to the plane landing. I do remember being confused at first about the continuity jumps — I didn’t even realize that there WERE tital cards.

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