Michael Clayton was on my top ten list of best films for 2007. It’s a movie that gets better with each viewing. I was looking forward to writer/director Tony Gilroy’s follow-up though I was taken aback by the first trailer. I thought it was going to be a dark thriller cut from the same cloth as Clayton, instead it was a frothy Ocean’s Eleven-type film. Duplicity is part romantic comedy, part heist film and tries to be a little too clever for its own good.
Clive Owen is MI-6 agent, Ray Koval, who picks up a beautiful woman at the US Consulate in Dubai. That woman turns out to be Claire Stenwick, a CIA agent who drugs Ray and steals secret documents from him. They run into each other years later, now working on rival sides of a corporate espionage death match. Claire works for Burkett-Randall, headed up by CEO Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson), while Ray is part of a security team for Equikrom under the auspices of CEO Richard Garsik (Paul Giamatti). Both corporations have been trying to steal sensitive information for each other and it only intensifies when Tully announces he is ready to roll out a revolutionary new product. We learn Claire is actually working as a mole for Equikrom and, not only that, she and Ray are looking to double-cross everybody to cash in on the secret product for themselves. That’s only the beginning of the twists and turns of Duplicity.
I’m all for twisty storylines as long as they are properly set up and make sense. Gilroy doesn’t so much set us up as he drops the twists right into our laps. It’s difficult to become invested in the plot when the rug keeps getting pulled from under us. The true appeal of the film is watching the movie stars act like movie stars. Clive Owen is always in a well-tailored suit and Julia Roberts (at 41) looks the best in her career and shows cleavage on an Erin Brockovich level. They meet each other for clandestine affairs in Rome, the Bahamas, and even Cleveland (where Owen has a funny dialogue about frozen pizza). Gilroy goes for a classic Hollywood feel to their relationship, something on par with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Though they have chemistry, they aren’t lighting up the screen as much as you’d want.
Duplicity begins on a high note with some clever use of split-screens and a slow motion slap fest between Wilkinson and Giamatti. The rest of the film doesn’t live up to the promise shown by the excellent opening sequences. It’s worth a rent if you’re in the mood for some lightweight fluff.
Rating: ** 1/2
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