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Duplicity

 
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Duplicity

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  • Director: Tony Gilroy
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: Thriller
  • Movie Type: Paranoid Thriller, Romantic Comedy
  • Themes: Cons and Scams, Traitorous Spies/Double Agents
  • Main Cast: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti, Dan Daily
  • Release Year: 2009
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 125 minutes
  • MPAA Rating: PG13

Plot

Closer co-stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen reunite for Oscar-nominated director Tony Gilroy's drama tracing the illicit love affair between two spies-turned-corporate operatives. The Cold War has thawed, and for CIA agents seeking to make an easy mint, the real money is in multinational corporations. CIA officer Claire Stenwick (Roberts) and Ray Koval (Owen) are both racing to secure the formula for a product that will bring untold wealth to the company that lands the patent first as the stakes begin to rise, and their passions start to flare. Meanwhile, their mutual employers, industry giant Howerd Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and trailblazing CEO Dick Garsil (Paul Giamatti) start resorting to some seriously underhanded tactics in hope of gaining an advantage over the competition. Loners by definition of their own careers, Claire and Ray engage in a series of schemes and double-crosses while contending with the fact that their mutual attraction could ultimately jeopardize their entire missions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Review

If you know your con-game movies, then you're familiar with the differences between short cons and long cons. The short con is all about making a quick buck -- like getting a bartender to give you change for a 20, when you really paid with a 10. Long cons, on the other hand, require months, if not years, of setup, and come with a payoff to match. They also make for timeless movies like The Sting, The Grifters, House of Games, and Tony Gilroy's Duplicity. Like those other time-tested con movies, Duplicity is about more than just lying, deceit, and trickery -- the story's mind games also serve as a metaphor for bigger issues -- in this case, love. In the opening scene, Ray Koval (Clive Owen) seduces Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) at a cocktail party thrown by the government of Dubai. Their passionate night together ends with him drugged, and her taking pictures of some sensitive documents in his possession -- and thus begins a most unusual courtship between people who inherently mistrust everyone around them. It would be just plain wrong to reveal much more about the plot, but years later, the two end up on opposite sides of some serious corporate espionage, and their time together in the past has more of an effect on their present than anyone -- the characters or the audience -- really understands.

Tony Gilroy proved that he could fashion an airtight thriller with Michael Clayton, and he's done it again here. The complex plot never confuses viewers -- you always know where you are in the story. And even if, at a given moment, you don't know why characters are having the same word-for-word conversation in totally different times and places, you can trust it will all make sense in the end.

In addition to creating a brain-twisting thriller full of double agents and triple crosses, Gilroy also makes Duplicity a credible romantic comedy at the same time thanks to dialogue that sparkles with humor -- the kind of dialogue actors kill to say. Clive Owen knows how to deliver a laugh line, and he gets more than his fair share of them, but it's his ability to charm his victims -- he makes it seem like it's fun to be lied to -- that makes him ideally suited for the part. And while we're on the subject of charm, Julia Roberts can still flash that 1,000-watt smile, but she's also grown into a more confident actress, able to play cold and calculating just as effortlessly as she can warm and charming. Together, they make a smart and sexy pair, entirely different from their battling lovers in Closer. While Owen and Roberts may anchor the movie, the whole cast gets to have fun, especially Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti as feuding corporate CEOs. Their first confrontation makes for a hysterically funny opening credit sequence. Wilkinson gives his business tycoon a know-it-all smugness that conflicts hilariously with Giamatti's paranoid and angry character -- he's half Gordon Gekko and half Donald Duck. And Carrie Preston steals her few scenes as a corporate travel planner who falls for all of Ray's considerable charms. But, however strong the acting is, Tony Gilroy deserves the lion's share of credit for making such a delightful movie. His writing and direction find the perfect balance of comedy, sexiness, and tension. The con-game elements may drive the story, but it's the romantic comedy that gives Duplicity heart and soul. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Cast

Lisa Roberts Gillan - Tully's Assistant; David Shumbris - Turtleneck; Rick Worthy - Dale Raimes; Oleg Stefan - Boris Fetyov; Denis O'Hare - Duke Monahan; Kathleen Chalfant - Pam Frales; Khan Baykal - Dinesh Patel; Tom McCarthy - Jeff Bauer; Wayne Duvall - Ned Guston; Fabrizio Brienza - Hotel Manager; Lucia Grillo - Italian chambermaid; Carrie Preston - Barbara Bofferd; Conan McCarty - Bartender; Kirby Mitchell - Realtor; Christopher Denham - Ronny Partiz; Christopher Mann - Mr. Security

Credit

Tamara Marini - Art Director, Stephen H. Carter - Art Director, Flaminia Lizzani - Casting, Ellen Chenoweth - Casting, Conchita Airoldi - Co-producer, John Gilroy - Co-producer, Christopher Goode - Co-producer, Albert Wolsky - Costume Designer, Tony Gilroy - Director, John Gilroy - Editor, Ryan Kavanaugh - Executive Producer, Lizz Scalice - Hair Styles, James Newton Howard - Composer (Music Score), Brian Ross - Musical Direction/Supervision, Leslie Fuller - Makeup, Kevin Thompson - Production Designer, Robert Elswit - Cinematographer, Patrizia Massa - Production Manager, Jennifer Fox - Producer, Kerry Orent - Producer, Laura Bickford - Producer, Michael Barosky - Production Sound, Jery Hewitt - Stunts Coordinator, Christopher Goode - Unit Production Manager, Tony Gilroy - Screenwriter, Daniel May - Musical Performer, Thievery Corporation - Musical Performer, The Morans - Musical Performer, John Skehan - Musical Performer, Grisha Goryachev - Musical Performer, Norbert Kraft - Musical Performer, Wang - Musical Performer, Legendary Shack Shakers - Musical Performer, Karen Wacker - Production Coordinator, Lara Dall'Antonia - Production Coordinator, Meredith Mills-Cavalluzzo - Production Coordinator, Alexis Arnold - Production Supervisor, Igor Srubshchik - Production Supervisor, Warren Shaw - Re-Recording Mixer, Michael Barry - Re-Recording Mixer, Warren Shaw - Supervising Sound Editor, George De Titta, Jr. - Set Decorator

Similar Movies

The Sting; Mr. and Mrs. Smith; Intolerable Cruelty
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Duplicity

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tony Gilroy
Produced by Laura Bickford
Jennifer Fox
John Gilroy
Kerry Orent
Written by Tony Gilroy
Starring Clive Owen
Julia Roberts
Tom Wilkinson
Paul Giamatti
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography Robert Elswit
Editing by John Gilroy
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) March 20, 2009 (U.S)
Running time 125 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $60 million
Gross revenue $78 million[1]

Duplicity is a 2009 American romantic comedy spy-thriller film written and directed by Tony Gilroy, and starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, about two corporate spies with a romantic history who collaborate to carry out a complicated con.[2] The film was released on March 20, 2009.[3]

Contents

Plot

The film opens five years earlier than the present, showing the Fourth of July celebration at the American consulate in Dubai, where Ray Koval (Clive Owen), an MI6 agent, appears to seduce Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts), unknowingly to him a CIA agent. Claire manages to drug Ray and steals classified documents from him.

The scene cuts to Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson), the CEO of Burkett & Randle, and Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti), the CEO of Equikrom, illustrating the rivalry between the two consumer product corporations when they get into a brawl upon encountering each other on the tarmac.

In the present day, Ray is a corporate spy in New York City who goes to work for Equikrom; at a meet, he spots Claire, thinking the mission is blown. When Ray follows her and confronts her finally for the incident in Dubai, Claire persistently puts up an innocent act, pretending she has never met Ray, until they both realize they were supposed to meet. Claire has been undercover as a counter-intelligence officer at Burkett & Randle for the past 14 months, and Ray is to become her new handler.

At Burkett & Randle, a major development is underfoot, and Tully makes a speech that paints them as innovators defending themselves from duplicity and theft. At Equikrom, who manage to get a copy of the speech through Claire, Dick Garsik scoffs at the company that purchased a dump to go through their garbage, and plots to steal whatever Burkett & Randle have developed.

The scene cuts to two years earlier in Rome, where we see Ray and Claire actually meeting for the first time since Dubai as well as Claire's exact same innocent act as before. It is revealed Ray and Claire did not meet at Equikrom by chance; they plan to wait for the perfect opportunity to cheat both companies and sell a corporate secret to the highest bidder for themselves. It's clear, however, neither still completely trusts the other, and suspicion abounds as to who is playing whom.

The team at Equikrom believes Ronny Partiz (Christopher Denham), a child prodigy turned genius, might be responsible for Burkett & Randle's new product. Ray and Boris Fetyov (Oleg Stefan) stake out Partiz at a casino in the Bahamas, when Claire and Jeff Bauer (Thomas McCarthy) from Burkett & Randle foil their plans by planting evidence of them cheating the casino.

In return, Howard Tully at Burkett & Randle thanks Claire for successfully defending the company's new product, revealing it to be the cure for baldness. When Jeff Bauer is later caught attempting to steal the formula and she is left guarding him and the formula alone, Claire manages to use one of the rigged photocopiers at Burkett & Randle to transfer it to Equikrom.

Back at Equikrom, Claire accuses Ray of stealing the formula for himself, and he is searched and exposed when it is found. Ray, believing Claire betrayed him, later finds Claire at the Zürich airport in Switzerland. Claire confesses she loves him and that's why she's still at the airport; Ray reciprocates the feelings and reveals he had another copy of the formula.

Ray and Claire attempt to sell the formula to a Swiss company for $35 million; meanwhile Dick Garsik is revealing to his shareholders that they are in the final stages of testing for a product that cures baldness. The Swiss, however, reveal the formula is a fraud. The scene cuts to ten days earlier, where we see Pam Frailes (Kathleen Chalfant) at Equikrom was really working for Burkett & Randle all along, Ronny Partiz was simply used as the bait, and Jeff Bauer staged stealing the formula. The film ends with Ray and Claire, as well as Garsik at the end of his shareholders' meeting, realizing they have all been played by Howard Tully.

Cast

  • Julia Roberts as Claire Stenwick, notionally a corporate spy for Burkett & Randle, one of the rival pharmaceutical companies
  • Clive Owen as Ray Koval, a corporate spy for Equikrom, one of the rival pharmaceutical company.
  • Tom Wilkinson as Howard Tully, the CEO of Burkett & Randle, one of the rival companies.
  • Paul Giamatti as Richard "Dick" Garsik, the CEO of Equikrom, one of the rival companies.
  • Denis O'Hare as Duke Monahan, employee at Equikrom
  • Kathleen Chalfant as Pam Fraile, employee at Equikrom
  • Thomas McCarthy as Jeff Bauer, employee at Burkett & Randle
  • Wayne Duvall as Ned Guston, employee at Burkett & Randle
  • Carrie Preston as Barbara Bofferd, travel agent at Burkett & Randle
  • Christopher Denham as Ronny Partiz, child prodigy that is believed to be responsible for Burkett & Randle's new product
  • Oleg Shtefanko as Boris Fetyov (as Oleg Stefan) employee at Equikrom

Production

Production on Duplicity began in New York City on March 9, 2008, and wrapped shooting on May 27 of that year. Filming locations included Paradise Island in the Bahamas for the casino shots, New York City including the West Village (Manhattan), Trafalgar Square in London and outside the Pantheon in Rome.[4]

Release

The film was released on March 19, 2009 in Australia and on March 20 in the US and the UK.[5] It had its world premiere on March 11, 2009 at London's Leicester Square.[6]

Reception

The film received positive reviews from film critics. Based on 166 reviews, it garnered a 65% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[7] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Duplicity is entertaining, but the complexities of its plot keep it from being really involving: When nothing is as it seems, why care?", but admitted that "the fun is in watching Roberts and Owen fencing with dialogue, keeping straight faces, trying to read each other's minds".[8] In his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "So what has gone wrong with Duplicity? I can only go with my gut feeling: that Mr. Gilroy has outsmarted himself by pulling too many switches in his narrative. He then fails to recover by coming up with a smash ending that pulls all the scattered pieces together".[9] Scott Foundas, in his review for the Village Voice, wrote, "Comedy seems to have liberated Gilroy, who directs Duplicity with the high gloss and fleet-footed hustle of a golden-age Hollywood craftsman. There's nary a dull stretch in its two-hour breadth".[10]

Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" rating and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "Gilroy counts on a Thin Man-style undercurrent of sexual sparring to sustain our interest in two scheming corporate operatives despite the fact that nothing much else is going on".[11] In his review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott praised Julia Roberts' performance: "Ms. Roberts has almost entirely left behind the coltish, America's-sweetheart mannerisms, except when she uses them strategically, to disarm or confuse. Curvier than she used to be and with a touch of weariness around her eyes and impatience in her voice, she is, at 41, unmistakably in her prime".[12] Sukhdev Sandhu, in his review for The Daily Telegraph, wrote, "Duplicity is really all about Roberts and Owen. They're con artists, but they don't fool us. Their pairing here feels duplicitous. Gilroy, it seems, is better at thrilling audiences than he is at seducing them".[13] However, not all reviews were positive; Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film two and a half stars out of four and said "Gilroy and his stars make it elegant fun to be fooled, but they sure as hell make you work for it."[14]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc on August 25, 2009.

References

  1. ^ "Duplicity (2009)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=duplicity.htm. Retrieved November 28, 2009. 
  2. ^ "Roberts, Owen reteam for 'Duplicity'". Variety. October 31, 2007. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975169.html?categoryid=1876&cs=1&query=duplicity. Retrieved March 16, 2009. 
  3. ^ allmovie ((( Duplicity > Overview )))
  4. ^ "Filming locations for Duplicity". Internet Movie Database. March 26, 2009. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/locations. Retrieved March 26, 2009. 
  5. ^ "Release dates for Duplicity". IMDb. March 26, 2009. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/releaseinfo. Retrieved March 26, 2009. 
  6. ^ "Julia & Clive - Duplicity World Premiere". Empireonline. March 11, 2009. http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=24353. Retrieved March 26, 2009. 
  7. ^ "Duplicity (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/duplicity_2009/. Retrieved November 28, 2009. 
  8. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 18, 2009). "Duplicity". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090318/REVIEWS/903189997. Retrieved March 20, 2009. 
  9. ^ Sarris, Andrew (March 17, 2009). "Duplicity Duped Me!". The New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/2009/movies/duplicity-duped-me. Retrieved March 18, 2009. 
  10. ^ Foundas, Scott (March 17, 2009). "Tony Gilroy's (Heretofore Unseen) Expert Light Touch in Duplicity". Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-03-18/film/tony-gilroy-s-heretofore-unseen-expert-light-touch-in-duplicity/. Retrieved March 18, 2009. 
  11. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (March 18, 2009). "Duplicity". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20266395,00.html. Retrieved March 19, 2009. 
  12. ^ Scott, A. O. (March 20, 2009). "Effervescent Espionage With Two Irresistible Forces". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/movies/20dupl.html. Retrieved March 20, 2009. 
  13. ^ Sandhu, Sukhdev (March 20, 2009). "Duplicity". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5016473/Duplicity-with-Julia-Roberts-and-Clive-Owen-review.html. Retrieved March 20, 2009. 
  14. ^ Travers, Peter (March 19, 2009). "Duplicity: Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 28, 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5lc5ZqstS. Retrieved November 28, 2009. 

External links

v • d • e
Tony Gilroy
Director
Michael Clayton (2007) • Duplicity (2009)
Screenwriter
The Cutting Edge (1992) • Dolores Claiborne (1995) • Extreme Measures (1996) • The Devil's Advocate (with Jonathan Lemkin) (1997) • Bait (with Andrew Scheinman and Adam Scheinman) (2000) • Proof of Life (2000) • The Bourne Identity (with William Blake Herron) (2002) • The Bourne Supremacy (2004) • The Bourne Ultimatum (with Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi) (2007) • Michael Clayton (2007) • State of Play (with Matthew Michael Carnahan and Billy Ray) (2009) • Duplicity (2009)

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