Duplicity

During the first few scenes of this movie I was reminded of the old romantic comedy "Lover Come Back" which starred Rock Hudson and Doris Day, where they played advertising executives who competed for an account to promote a product that didn't exist!

"Duplicity" is all about industrial espionage, no "World in Peril," no blowie uppie stuff, no nukes, guns or car chases. It still manages to create tension, generate interest, and amuse. The dialog is clever, the locations are fun and the loathing between two corporate arch enemies, played by Paul Giamatti ("Sideways" and "John Adams") and Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton" and "The Full Monte"), is the driving force from the clever (slow-motion) title sequence onward.

Our two principal spies are played by Julia Roberts ("Erin Brockovich" and "Pretty Woman") and Clive Owen ("The International,""I'll Be a Long Time Dead" and "Croupier"). They relish what they do, but the downside is that they -- not being trustworthy -- do not trust anyone. Remember, you always judge others by yourself. The wheeling and dealing between this duplicitous duo is involving and sometimes confusing. Be warned, you'll need a scorecard to keep track of who is working for (or against) whom! Luckily all the secondary characters have distinctive appearances and personality quirks.

The twisty plot is echoed by the twisty camerawork, with great impressive swoops around our heroes. I'd love to see a documentary of how this movie was made, I'll bet the camera operator needed a seat belt!

The dialog is witty; I particularly liked one of the lines: Owen's character says to Roberts, "I think about you all the time. Even when I'm WITH you, I think about you!" You have NEVER seen him smile so much and they seem to have great chemistry. In my opinion, this is a BIG improvement over the icky relationship they had in their previous collaboration, the cynical film, "Closer." Whew!

Great tagline for this movie: Outwit. Outspy. Outsmart. Outplay. Then get out.