Duplicity

2 stars

Even Owen and Roberts couldn’t save this confusing and mind boggling mess.

Rating: PG
Stars: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson

What’s the story?
Two corporate spies (Owen & Roberts) hook up (after knowing each other a while back) to pull off a scheme to get 40 Million dollars. The mission is to infiltrate a company that each other work in, and expose a secret product the company is releasing. Soon things get off track and the two spies realize they have more feelings for each other than they recently thought.

Why see it?
I’ve been a fan of Clive Owen ever since Children of Men, and it was gratifying to see Julia Roberts back on the screen. A few years ago both Clive and Julia did a movie together called Closer, and it was satisfying to see them back together again. Their performances together are the only uplifting value of this film. Although we could have used more of Paul Giamatti and definitely more Tom Wilkinson, the entire cast was perfect for this film.

Problems?
This movie had a lot much potential with a strong first half, but after that it becomes a confusing and a mind-boggling mess of a movie. There are so many twists, and confusing storytelling. The script was good, but the story was horribly told.

All in all:
Duplicity has some humour and good acting but you’ll have to find either the film’s director or the screenwriter to translate the story for you, or else you won’t get it.