Duplicity (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA, Germany 2009
Director: Tony Gilroy
Cast: Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti, Dan Daily, Lisa Roberts Gillan
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: 16 March 2009
Running Time: 2 hours 6 minutes

The Movie Review

A couple days ago, I've just posted two movie reviews which are headlined by British actor Clive Owen: Trust (2010) and The International (2009). "So why not made it a hat trick for this week?" I thought. Besides, I found this movie among a stack of movie collection belongs to my friend, and to know that he's got a comfy room to crash, "then why not watching this movie while I was there?"

Some audience dislike this movie apparently including my friend who hit me in the arm (that hurts!) for playing this movie without telling him, thus sending him away back to his game console. I personally found this movie is a ok, a unique kind of Com-Rom, but that's probably because it didn't cost me a fortune, just a sore arm! (F you man, F you) sob sob..


DUPLICITY
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

Duplicity revolves around the on-and-off romantic life of two a-list intelligence agents, Ray Koval (Clive Owen) and Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts). And not just that, but the movie focuses also on the eternal enmity between two giant companies called Equikrom and Burkett & Randle with their respective hot-headed hot-tempered boss, Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti) and Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson).

Now Kids, there's still plenty of candies!

Ray Koval, an MI6 agent and also a womanizer, falls to the hands brilliant woman named Claire back in Dubai. Ray's important documents are also stolen by her. Since then he always pursues her until one day --after retiring from MI6-- Ray is forced to work together with Claire. Ray is currently hired by Equikrom to investigate the business processes and the latest ultimate secrets of Burkett & Randle. While Claire --who is hired by Burkett & Randle-- is sailing close to the wind by being the mole, working as the double-agent. She's the one responsible to hand over the latest secrets to Ray. But as predicted, their love life often interferes with their work. What will happen to their budding romance and what is going to happen between these two companies and their workers?

I give a Duplicity a thumb up of for the opening scene (Sorry Mr. Ebert, but everybody's got a thumb :-)) It's very hilarious in a special kind of way, it's just kinda kooky with all that slow-motion technique and two mature men doing some really un-mature stuff.

After several minutes into the movie, I realize why some people dislike the movie... It's more or less solely about Marketing Intelligence (Loosely translated in Indonesian is: Rahasia Dapur). I personally has grown personal interest to this matter. During my college days, I bought several magazines about MI --thinking that it was cool for the sake of the word Intelligence-- only to have my friends scolded at me telling me I was kinda too much (In Indonesian: Belagu amet sih loe baca gituan hehehe). So anyways, I found this movie particularly interesting. But aside of that personal reason, I like this hybrid of comedy-romantic-action-thriller-espionage movie as is.

Duplicity indeed runs a bit too long, 2 hours is not a short time for some people. However this is a smart movie that requires more detailed storytelling than regular action flicks but even though categorized as brainy, Duplicity still could deliver several unpredictably witty moments. The little-bit-too-loud soundtracks/scores are actually very good and the directing style is far from being a bore. Although the chemistry between our two lead cast is as unclear as intelligence itself, but they could deliver their lines perfectly. In this movie, you can see how two companies work to best each other out. What I like is, that even though it's a smart film, but it doesn't use too many heavy words or annoying jargon which require you to flip your dictionary.

Duplicity is full of twists! And even though seasoned moviegoers might already guess how the ending would be, but the process to that finale is a fun one. Yes, it's not thrilling as in full of tension but it's a fun movie with no violence. No one gets shot or killed or hurt, as this is after all about white collar workers who drain their mind to outsmart their contenders. The fun is to follow what they would do? Not about who is going to win, but to enjoy the process and all the efforts that these agents and companies will do to be on top. The fun is to see how they have gone the deep end to achieve a satisfying glory. And as an audience I was satisfied...