Duplicity: Movie Review (2009)

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy, 125 minutes, rated PG-13.

The new Tony Gilroy caper, “Duplicity,” doesn’t come close to achieving the highs of his last movie, “Michael Clayton,” but it does have its moments, most of which come from the pleasures of its cast, which possesses enough talent and presence to lift a plot so unnecessarily cluttered, it’s a gimmick.

The trouble with the movie is that it involves a non-linear structure that’s so fractured, you wonder how much better it might have been had it just been told straight. Since Gilroy could have achieved the desired effect of keeping his audience off kilter by merely holding back through better writing, the slicing and dicing of the time structure grows repetitive and tiresome.

That said, this isn’t a film without energy, it does feature several terrific supporting performances and its dialogue can be brisk and smart.

The movie stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in their first pairing since 2004’s “Closer.” Here, they are former CIA agent Claire Stenwick and former British MI-6 agent Ray Koval, two people who have lived duplicitous lives for so long, what are they to do when their emotions threaten to get in the way? Since trust is an issue for each--they have, after all, been trained to live a lie--they mostly keep their relationship down to sex and to business over the two years the movie charts.

Given the sheer amount of junk in this movie, let’s keep the plot down to its basics: Claire and Ray want to pull off a scam in the private sector that would allow them to make off with millions so they could quit the business and live their lives together elsewhere. They have the experience to pull off such a feat, but finding the right opportunity is key, and so they wait for it to come.

When it does, it’s via their connections through two competing businessmen--Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti), who hate each other with such venom, they give the film its funniest scene in its opening moments.

Working the angles via their other connections, Claire and Ray struggle to trust each other while duping a host of players along the way. Should they pull off the impossible in a scam that involves getting hold of the chemical compound that cures baldness, the payoff is huge--upwards of $40 million on the black market, which they’ll split evenly. Or will they? Given their moral integrity, either could run off with the money.

Watching the film, you know what Gilroy is aiming for--one of those ultra-hip, abstract entertainments favored by such directors as Steven Soderberg and David Mamet--but the effort, while beautiful to look at for all sorts of reasons (the people, the locations, the clothes), falls short.

There’s nothing like telling a story cleanly and well, and that’s where “Duplicity” stumbles--it has been manufactured with so many quirks, it has had the life squeezed out of it. Making matter worse are its characters, who are so cold, you never like them they way Gilroy hoped you would. And so you view the movie from the outside, watching the chaos unravel within the attractive scenery, but never really becoming emotionally invested in the story or the characters along the way.

Grade: C+

View the trailer for "Duplicity" here: