Oscar winner Julia Roberts and Clive Owen reunite for Duplicity, from writer/director Tony Gilroy (seven-time Oscar nominated Michael Clayton).
In the film, they star as spies-turned-corporate operatives in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they find themselves embroiled in a high-stakes espionage game, they discover the toughest part of the job is deciding how much to trust the one you love.
CIA officer Claire Stenwick (Roberts) and MI6 agent Ray Koval (Owen) have left the world of government intelligence to cash in on the highly profitable cold war raging between two rival multinational corporations.
Their mission? Secure the formula for a product that will bring a fortune to the company that patents it first.
For their employers-industry titan Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and buccaneer CEO Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti) - nothing is out of bounds.
But as the stakes rise, the mystery deepens and the tactics get dirtier, the trickiest secret for Claire and Ray is their growing attraction and as they each try to stay one double-cross ahead, two career loners find their schemes endangered by the only thing they can't cheat their way out of: love.
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"It tends to get a bit confusing at times, but if you don't overthink, it will all come to you in the end"
Being a die-hard Julia Roberts fan, and having been for almost 20 years, hardly makes me the most objective reviewer when it comes to her newest flick, Duplicity, a romantic caper movie in which she shares the screen with the ever so dashing Clive Owen. So, what's the deal? The movie, from Michael Claytons Tony Gilroy is slickness incorporated. Roberts and Owen play corporate spies scamming the companies they work for as well as each other, and a lot of the time, we have no idea who's playing who. And neither do they.
It tends to get a bit confusing at times, but if you don't overthink, it will all come to you in the end. The unfolding of the story up to the climax puts you right back on track and the ending is just as unexpected as it is entertaining. And the mood? Think Ocean's 11, a touch of Jason Bourne and add to that the quick, smart dialogue by Tony Gilroy which really just takes your breath away, delivered by actors who have just the perfect timing and pace for it. Some of the time though, I don't really know what kind of movie this is. Is it romantic? Is it action? Is it comedy? Is it just a big think-tank? And here's what I came up with. In action movies, the "thinky" parts of the movie tend to weigh up with the action sequences, you know, the occasional gunfights and cars blowing up? In Duplicity, that part is replaced with romance and quick banter. And it works, but it doesn't quite keep up the pace an actionmovie would. The verdict though? It's fun with a dash of intelligence, romance and coolness.The performances are superb. Roberts is back to the way people love her, charming, funny, smart and oh-so-sexy. Owen is just all charisma.
I also have to devote a line to the music of this movie, James Newton Howard has done an excellent job composing music that goes so well with the 40's feel of the dialogue and the way these characters play off each other. The way it is used in the slow-mo intro scene with Giamatti and Wilkinson having a fist-fight on an airport runway is just genius.
