The wrong con

I saw Duplicity last weekend, but with all the TV lineup news this week, I haven't had a chance to post my review for it until now.

This movie seemed to have all the ingredients in place. You had Tony Gilroy, hot off of Michael Clayton, writing and directing the film. You also had a superb cast led by Clive Owen and Julie Roberts in her first starring role since 2003. Rounding out the cast were a pair of solid supporting actors; Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giammati. When you factor in that this is also a con man movie, I thought they couldn't miss. Unfortunately, it turns out that the con is on the audience.

The primary problem involves the relationship between Owen and Roberts. They play retired CIA/MI6 agents, respectively, who are now working for a pair of competing pharmaceutical companies. They're trying to use the companies' rivalry against them in hopes of stealing millions of dollars from them. Through a series of flashbacks we learn how these two con artists met and developed a romantic relationship while working on their con. Being a pair of liars, however, they never trust each other. So in each of these flashbacks we get the same basic scene over and over again. One accuses the other of doing something, the other denies it before eventually coming clean that they were conning the other and then they make out.

This banter between the two leads is meants to be coy and funny but I found it to be redundant and annoying. It's abundantly clear that these two can't trust each other, so I don't understand the need to continually remind us of that. There is no real payoff to these clues either in terms of the reveal of the big con at the end. It seems like you should have a rooting interest in seeing the leads get away with their scam, but I found myself completely ambivalent to their plan.

More interesting is the rivalry between the companies that Wilkinson and Giammati work for. The scenes which involve the steps these men will take to not only succeed but make sure the other fails miserably is where the film scores. It's a nice insight into corporate espionage. Having Wilkinson and Giammati playing the heads of these companies only adds to the allure of these scenes.

While this may not have much to do with the plot, I must say that Julia Roberts still looks amazing here. She is as beautiful as she was when she began in acting and she remains as charming as ever. I know she is more drawn to motherhood these days, but I certainly hopes she continues acting in some capacity. Clive Owen is also fine here. It's nice to see a more relaxed, humorous personality from him as opposed to the dour look he usually has on his face in his film.

It ends up being the script that truly fails this talented cast. I liked the actors, I liked the scenery, I liked the concept, yet I found myself completely bored by the whole endeavour. I had no interest in seeing who would win out, even though it did surprise me how the film ended.

Maybe my high expectations ruined this film for me. After Tony Gilroy did such a great job reinventing the legal thriller with Michael Clayton, I was anticipating a fresh take from him on the con genre. Instead, we got circular dialogue and a plan that never became engaging. Duplicity should be arriving on DVD shortly and I would only recommend it if you're out of other options. With a less talented cast, this movie would be a complete dud. But thanks to their shining stars, this one may be tolerable as a rental. Grade: C+