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''You on one side, me on the other. It's perfect.''
A pair of corporate spies who share a steamy past hook up to pull off the ultimate con job on their respective bosses.
Clive Owen: Ray Koval
Duplicity comes from Director Tony Gilroy and is also written by him. The beginning starts of in a typical way, that entices said viewer into watching, with it's pair, in the guise of Clive and Julia, plus the two bosses fighting in a surreal, over the top, and heightened way, at a meeting.
This turns out to be a comedic piece combined with a blatant double act of a thriller and a medium paced play on play.
Performances and character wise, Julia Roberts as Claire Stenwick, is the crafty female lead whom teams up with Owen, and boy do they make a lovably effective duo. Getting past the fact Julia has the weirdest lips to look at,she does indeed look dazzling and uses witty dialogue and effective lines. The trouble being this isn't really a role different from any other role she has previously done albeit it's one where she has abit of fun admittedly.
Clive Owen as Ray Koval,really does succeed yet again, at showing us, that this is the guy who should of been Bond. Whether it be the manly gentleman way he acts, his seducing acting, and his usage of high-tech gadgetry, this really sticks it out in the sun to see in a way that is coming all too apparent with every new film Clive does.
When we first meet Claire Stenwick and Ray Koval (Roberts and Owen), they are drinking it up in Dubai at the US consulate. She isn't the least bit interested in him and he is working her as hard as he can. I didn't hear it but he must have said the right thing at some point because they end up in bed together. Of course, she was only sleeping with him so that she could drug him and steal some super secret international spy stuff. And naturally, he put aside all of his super secret spy training and allowed himself to be taken in by her beauty.
He has strength, he is no pansy and he is a typical cliche of sophistication and gruffness.
Moving on to the other players, we have great casting right here, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson as two corporate bosses get down to it, adding to the sublime acting and Paul reuniting with Clive Owen yet again after the wonderful collaboration with Clive on Shoot Em Up.
The other aspects that shine in Duplicity is the wonderful music,the locations and the witty dialogue.
Director Gilroy's last directorial effort was his first. Michael Clayton earned him respect from critics and contemporaries alike as the film went on to earn a number of Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Gilroy enlisted some of the same players he worked with last time out, including composer, James Newton Howard, cinematographer, Robert Elswit and even cast member, Tom Wilkinson, rejoins the gang as the head of one of these soon-to-be-conned corporations. How is it then that when all these wonderful additions got together last time, they achieved such subtle perfection while this time, Howard sounds as though he were ripping off the Ocean 11 through to 13 scores and Elswit is practically washed out?
Perhaps the blame can be placed on Gilroy's most tired screenplay in years. By keeping corporate espionage grounded in reality last time out, he made it fascinating and palatable. By infusing it with Hollywood convention, the whole game was played out before it even began.
Roberts and Owen have shared the screen before in Closer (2004) which was rather more adult, so I heard, yet still need to have the pleasure of viewing. There's a chemistry between the pair which, while not coming close to previous pairings, it is still fun and playful to watch. And this is where the show comes into its own. It's a flimsy, watchable affair that's fun for the most part. Duplicity is predictable, stylish and fun yet for it's flaws it still shines thanks to the killer lines and comedy that ensues.
''You're gaming me!''
7/10
