DUPLICiTY (B-)Just caught a screening of Duplicity with the lovely Becky Henry. The film stars Clive Owen (Inside Man) and Julia Roberts (old movies...umm Pretty Woman). Clive Owen is always awesome, and killed in this role as well. Apparently the producers held up the production of this film because Julia Roberts was pregnant and they really wanted her to play the female lead. Definitely a good decision on their part because Roberts was perfect for her role as well.
Owen plays a former MI-6 agent while Roberts plays an ex CIA agent that together try to use their espionage talents to steal a lot of money from two competing corporations. The two corporations are at constant battle to one up the other, which is shown hilariously in the beginning of the film. The corporations are headed by CEO's Tom Wilkinson (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Paul Giamatti (Sideways).
Roberts and Owen work their way through an elaborate plot to infiltrate the corporations and steal a secret formula that will make them millions. The well written script makes the audience desire the conclusion to the all the scheming parties in the film. I was intrigued the entire time by the espionage at hand, and watching all the plots and sub plots coming together throughout the film.
I really enjoyed the way Duplicity transitioned between scenes. It really gave the film its own flavor; very different from what you usually see in films today. There were a lot of bedroom scenes between our main characters. The good editing showed their romance and chemistry without lingering to much on the concept of sex.
As the film nears the ending viewers try to guess the ending to the twisting plot, and this really made me enjoy the film even more. Not knowing the ending is always a treat for me, and if you guess it I would be effin' shocked.
Overall I would recommend Duplicity to all film goers, unless you are stupid enough to give up on the plot before it has a chance to unravel. Many elements in the film were very well done, but the story could have benefited from being a little bit shorter. 2 hours and 5 mins was a little too long. The movie critics loved this film, I liked it. I'm sure many of you will too. See it.
