Review of Duplicity (2009) by Zaenal A — 24 Oct 2011

There's some promise here. In the hands of someone like JJ Abrahms this could have been a great spy thriller come relationship drama in a similar vein to his wonderful series Alias. Under the not so mindful eye of director Tony Gilroy it's a wrong footed and clumsy offering.

Clive Owen and Julia Roberts, a couple who exhibited a great chemistry in Closer, are both undercover corporate agents working against each other, with each other and against everybody else at certain times in the movie to bring down the tycoons they respectively work for and make a whole heap of cash.

The film is at its strongest when dealing with the spy thriller part of it's make up, and there are times when it really starts to get the interest going. Owen is good in his role, even if Roberts is mis-cast. All too frequently though this is abandoned in favour of flash backs and a concentration on the nature of the personal relationship between Roberts and Owen which is nowhere near as rivetting and the chemistry the two showed in Closer seems a million miles away as they begin to bore the audience senseless. The flash backs don't help matters either in a film where you're already trying to stay awake.

Supporting cast wise Tom Wilkinson is given very little to do as one half of their horrible bosses while Paul Giamatti continues to prove why he is one of the most over-rated actors working today, looking bloated and shouting a lot.

Duplicity almost saves itself with an absolute cracker of a twists which is a genuine surprise. This in some ways is almost a shame, as while it does reward those who have stuck with it, it doesn't go far enough to justify the two hours of tosh leading up to it and the film would have been so much easier to hate if it wasn't there.

At times intriguing and with a great twists that as good as it is, ultimately isn't worth waiting for, Duplicity is a real non-starter.