Review of Duplicity (2009) by Maciejc. — 21 May 2009

Simply a bad movie. Not that kind when you want to throw bricks at the screen because the filmmakers' stupidity is so annoying. It rather leaves you in your chair with the feeling that you've been screwed and lost your time and money, like the two film protagonists at the end.

Some critics are enthralled by the performance of Clive Owen and Julia Roberts as a couple of ex-spies who need to trust each other to knock over two major companies. Well, 'Duplicity' might act as a kind of mirror in which you see the reflection of your own relationships - this is the best aspect of this movie.

For me, the acting is hardly standard, and Clive Owen repeats his speech (about how good he is in remembering people, especially those he slept with) at least one time too much. If there was any originality in the inital scipt, it must have been thrown to the ground by Romantic Comedy Security Forces and curbstomped with a high-heeled shoe.

Enough about the chick flick part; this movie is also about the grand scheme the couple are plotting, right? Yes, and it's a disaster: if you watch this absent-mindledly, you just won't get anything; if you try to follow the plot.

.. well, your mistake. Put simply, the final plot twists (mostly) don't make sense: Julia Roberts character rats Owen to his company, and his coworkers find a super-secret formula in his bag, discovering he'd been trying to outsmart them.

Some time later, Owen arrives in Zurich with the formula to meet Roberts. How did he get away with it? Was his partner really trying to rat on him? If the answer's no, why the f-word did she put him in serious trouble? Apparently, you aren't supposed to know that.

Then, the ultimate twist - everything was staged by one of the companies. Still, you don't really know what happened. The biggest problem with this movie is not that it tries to be a romantic comedy and Ocean's 14, failing on both.

The problem is, after watching the movie, you just can't tell more about it than you've read on the movie flyer. 'Duplicity' is just empty; not unintellectual, but lacking in content - at least, content worth remembering.

Don't expect any brainless fun, either. Expect a boring movie.