Clive Owen and Julia Roberts are former Government secret agents in Duplicity who take on jobs for rival commercial companies. One company has a secret which the other wants to discover. Can the two former agents be trusted? Can they trust each other? Does a double cross lay ahead? Almost the entire two hours of Duplicity is a set up for 'the reveal' at the end.
This is the type of film that MGM would have made in the 1930s/40s and they would have used Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in the roles. However in those films the screenplay would have been filled with wisecracks, the characters would have had more fun but travelled less widely and the storyline would have been less complex.
The few laugh out loud moments in Duplicity come as a relief. There are other humorous moments but the screenplay tends to hide them in a cloak of secrecy and subtlety.
Whether Owen and Roberts click as a couple in this film is a matter of personal opinion but for me they were more like colleagues in their scenes together.
I liked the premise of the film but it could have been so much better.
This is on my to see list....although I'm not a fan of either of the leads...why am I bothering?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that there is someone who shares the same thoughts I had just from seeing the trailers. I'll wait until it comes out on DVD.
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