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09 / 03 / 2010
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02 / 08 / 2009
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18 / 08 / 2005
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Duplicity

Cast: Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti. Written and directed by Tony Gilroy. Story: Corporate espionage. Running Time: 2hrs 5 minutes. UK certificate 12A, US certificate PG-13.

Meh. It's a double-crossing movie. We've seen it all before.

What a strange process it must be, trying to get a movie commissioned. If we're to believe the populist fantasy, one man describes his movie idea while another sits in a big puffy wheelie chair and either loves it or hates it. With Duplicity the pitch would be something along the lines of, "two big stars, corporate spies on opposite sides, love-hate relationship, each outwits the other, big twist at the end." And somehow that got the thumbs up, as if we haven't seen it a hundred times before. I guess you could pick any handful of successful movies in history and pitch them as if they were new, then pick up the ones that get commissioned and hang some new curtains on them.

Clive Owen and Julia Roberts are the curtains dangling from Tony Gilroy's pitch and both are perfectly adequate. This is only Gilroy's second directorial feature after Oscar-touched Michael Clayton, but he's an accomplished writer, having written both Clayton and the screenplays for all three Bourne movies. In Duplicity, the clue's in the title, so you know everyone's going to be playing everyone else. Even if you can't tell who's about to get fucked over by whom, you can tell when each rectum-shafting is about to pop up. As with all these dupe-and-counter-dupe movies, it gets very tangled towards the end, so it's to Gilroy's credit that it never becomes too complicated to follow. And I'd almost recommend it purely for the opening sequence, where Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti get into slow motion fisticuffs like only white collar workers can ... most amusing.

Duplicity is quite engaging - Paul Giamatti in particular - but don't expect a masterpiece. It's heavier than Mr & Mrs Smith but light enough to keep track of. Worth including in your evening's shortlist.

I enjoyed this film: 4/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 4/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 2/5

To enjoy this film: enjoy corporate espionage.

Duplicity was released in the UK on 20th March 2009.