Duplicity (Blu-ray) (2009)

"Superior entertainment, the most elegantly pleasurable movie of its kind to come around in a very long time.  A.O. Scott, The New York Times
"An enormously enjoyable hybrid, a romantic comedy set at the center of a caper movie. But the froth arrives with steel bubbles--the tone is amused and mordantly satirical.  David Denby, The New Yorker
"Whip-smart, sexy and delightfully twisty romantic thriller.  Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Editor's Note DUPLICITY is a slick, Soderberghian comic caper in which it?s never exactly clear who is being conned. It?s easy to see that ex-CIA agent Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) and former MI6 member Ray Koval (Clive Owen) have a heated history together when they embark on an elaborate mission of corporate espionage. Two rival CEOs (played by the always fantastic Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti) are battling for the top spot in their industry, and a top-secret new product would determine who would wear the crown. But this isn?t just about business innovation and profit: Claire and Ray have a plan that would help them get the prized formula and walk away with millions. Tony Gilroy?s previous work as screenwriter and director--namely the Jason Bourne films and MICHAEL CLAYTON--didn?t give any indication that he could create something this bouncy and light. But while DUPLICITY is fun, it?s never dumb; it jumps back and forth in time with style, playing an elaborate game that its scheming lead characters would be proud of. As Ray and Claire, Owen and Roberts display the same fiery chemistry that they showed in the gut-punching romantic drama CLOSER, but this time, they play (mostly) nice. If DUPLICITY can draw comparison to the classic genre bender CHARADE, then it?s not a stretch to liken Owen to Cary Grant--he has an easy charm that ensnares not only each woman in the film but everyone in the audience as well.

	Clive Owen
	Tom Wilkinson
	Paul Giamatti
	Julia Roberts
	Dan Dailey
	Lisa Roberts Gillan
	David Shumbris
	Rick Worthy
	Denis O'Hare
	Tom McCarthy
	Jennifer Fox - Producer
	Robert Elswit - Director of Photography
	Ryan Kavanaugh - Executive Producer
	James Newton Howard - Composer
	Kerry Orent - Producer
	Tony Gilroy - Screenwriter
	Laura Bickford - Producer
	Tony Gilroy - Director

Hollywood Reporter
"The movie is fun, with plenty of intrigue and suspense that will have audiences clutching at their arm rests....Gilroy is truly one of Hollywood's best filmmakers when it comes to story. He can create strong characters and breathtaking situations that throw off extreme tension." 03/16/2009

Variety
"An ultra-sophisticated love story between two corporate spies with pronounced mutual trust issues, DUPLICITY is a brainy, non-violent MR. AND MRS. SMITH....Smart, droll and dazzling to look at and listen to..." 03/16/2009

USA Today
"[A] brainy lark....It's risky, high-stakes madness involving the top floor-dwelling heads of rival companies....With smart writing delivered by an in-synch quartet..." 03/20/2009

Los Angeles Times
"[A] sleek, dizzying entertainment....A throwback to the days of old-school caper movies like TO CATCH A THIEF, DUPLICITY is just the kind of sophisticated amusement you would expect from filmmaker Tony Gilroy." 03/20/2009

New York Times
"Its densely coiled plot and splintered chronology reveal a cascade of familiar genres and styles....DUPLICITY is superior entertainment, the most elegantly pleasurable movie of its kind to come around in a very long time 03/20/2009

Entertainment Weekly
"Gilroy's articulate script is a stylish structure engineered to support sly double crosses, fake-outs, and gotchas....[With] Julia Roberts, in full Hollywood movie-star mode....It is an undeniable thrill to see her again -- amazingly, naturally, inimitably starry as ever..." -- Grade:B 03/27/2009

Rolling Stone
"[I]t's Roberts and Owen who hold focus....You're in for bright mischief with a dark streak that runs down to its core. Gilroy and his stars make it elegant fun to be fooled..." 04/02/2009

Washington Post
"DUPLICITY is a pleasant big-studio diversion, a screwball romance with beautiful movie stars set in gorgeous hotel rooms, deluxe office spaces and corporate jets. It's smart..." 03/20/2009

Chicago Sun-Times
3 stars out of 4 -- "DUPLICITY is entertaining....The fun is in watching Roberts and Owen fencing with dialogue, keeping straight faces, trying to read each other's minds." 03/18/2009

Premiere
"This is only Gilroy's second film in the director's chair, which makes the smart dialog and superstar cast even more impressive." 03/19/2009

Variety
"An ultra-sophisticated love story between two corporate spies with pronounced mutual distrust issues, DUPLICITY is a brainy, non-violent MR. AND MRS. SMITH....Smart, droll and dazzling to look at and listen to..." 03/19/2009

A.V. Club
"[E]legant, witty, suspenseful, glamorous, and briskly entertaining..." 08/26/2009

Rolling Stone 7 of 10
Given the assault of devilishly clever plot twists that buzz-bomb your brain like a two-hour binge of quad-shot lattes, Duplicity goes down as too smart for its own good. Hasn't writer-director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) read the surveys that say the last thing economically challenged audiences want is to think? In any case, Gilroy has chosen to ignore Hollywood's greed-fueled wisdom. And we're all the better for it. Duplicity makes demands that the payoff doesn't quite justify, but getting there actually is half the fun...It's Roberts and Owen who hold focus. Their love story is built on mutual mistrust. Is she playing him or is it the other way around? The actors make you care. Roberts has a great scene interrogating a homely travel employee (a terrific Carrie Preston) whom Ray banged brainless on her office desk to get info. The woman doesn't miss an erotic beat in detailing her one night with a hottie, action she assumes Claire gets on a regular basis. Roberts plays the scene in total, cold silence, but subtly registers anger morphing into hurt...Still, all emotions are suspects in Duplicity. "If I told you I loved you, would it make any difference?" Claire asks Ray. "If you told me, or if I believed you?" he answers. Gilroy is playing with play-acting, a necessary talent for spies and movie stars. You may leave the theater not knowing who to believe, but you're in for bright mischief with a dark streak that runs down to its core. Gilroy and his stars make it elegant fun to be fooled, but they sure as hell make you work for it. - Peter Travers

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen generate fierce electricity in "Duplicity," but we (and they) don't know if it's romantic or wicked. They're Claire and Ray, government spies (she CIA, he MI6) who meet on assignment in Dubai; she sleeps with him, then steals his secret documents. They both enter the private sector, working for the counterespionage departments of competing shampoo giants. At stake: The formula for a top-secret formula that, when revealed, does indeed seem to be worth the high-tech games being played to steal and protect it...This isn't a two-hander; Gilroy uses his supporting cast for key roles. Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti play the two enemy soap tycoons, both consumed by desperate intensity. Carrie Preston steals a scene from Roberts with her hilarious role as a company travel agent who may have been seduced by Ray but bubbles over about how glad she is that it happened. Roberts is amusingly inscrutable as she listens..."Duplicity" is entertaining, but the complexities of its plot keep it from being really involving: When nothing is as it seems, why care? The fun is in watching Roberts and Owen fencing with dialogue, keeping straight faces, trying to read each other's minds. That, and admiring the awesome technology that goes into corporate espionage. I don't understand why Wall Street executives deserve millions, but I can see why these two might. All the money they hope to steal, added together, wouldn't amount to an annual bonus for one of the bankruptcy masterminds. - Roger Ebert