'Duplicity': Too Cliché
Review by Chris Glazier

As a huge fan of both Clive Owen and Julia Roberts, I was pretty stoked to see them both starring in the new spy flick, Duplicity, but I was definitely let down. While it wasn't a bad movie, Duplicity is a pretty mediocre mix of cliché spy scenes and awkward writing combined with some good acting.

The movie follows two ex-government spies as they fall in love and try to make it rich in the world of private espionage. They hatch a plot by playing both sides of a corporate war between two huge companies and hoping to grab some insider information that will hit the jackpot.

Both Roberts and Owen have been in only a few movies in recent years, but it's clear they haven't lost their acting chops. They deliver their lines with just the right amounts of irony and cleverness, and their timing together is impeccable. Unfortunately, the lines they deliver are frequently disappointing. I was hoping for Ocean's Eleven writing, and I got Ocean's Twelve.

Add to this the fact that there are a few too many plot twists and the screenplay by David Gilroy really shines as the reason for Duplicity's mediocrity. It's not that the film is hard to follow, it's just that they keep changing things on you so much that you start to not care about what's really going on.

Like the script, the rest of the cast is pretty mediocre with the glorious exceptions of Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti as the overzealous battling CEOs who steal each and every scene they're in.

If you really need a decent spy flick to quench your thirst at the theater until State of Play comes out, Duplicity isn't a bad choice. Otherwise wait till you can rent or Netflix it.

Content Watch:
Typical fare for what you get in a PG-13 spy movie these days. There are numerous scenes before and after sex, but nothing particularly shocking for older viewers. Outfits are often pretty revealing and innuendos abound. Curse words are sprinkled throughout the film but not particularly prevalent. Again, if a normal PG-13 movie bothers you, this will. If it doesn't, you'll be fine.