Duplicity (2009)

A pair of corporate spies who share a steamy past hook up to pull off the ultimate con job on their respective bosses.

Director:

Tony Gilroy

Writer:

Tony Gilroy

Stars:

Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Tom Wilkinson

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clive Owen	...	Ray Koval
Julia Roberts	...	Claire Stenwick
Tom Wilkinson	...	Howard Tully
Paul Giamatti	...	Richard Garsik
Dan Daily	...	Garsik's Aide
Lisa Roberts Gillan	...	Tully's Assistant (as Lisa Roberts Gillan)
David Shumbris	...	Turtleneck
Rick Worthy	...	Dale Raimes
Oleg Shtefanko	...	Boris Fetyov (as Oleg Stefan)
Denis O'Hare	...	Duke Monahan
Kathleen Chalfant	...	Pam Frailes
Khan Baykal	...	Dinesh Patel
Thomas McCarthy	...	Jeff Bauer (as Tom McCarthy)
Wayne Duvall	...	Ned Guston
Fabrizio Brienza	...	Hotel Manager

Storyline

Ray works for MI6, Claire for the CIA. She burns him in Dubai. Jump ahead five years: he sees her in Grand Central and confronts her. Both now work in industrial security for corporate giants whose CEOs hate each other. Flashbacks fill us in: is it coincidence that he sees her in Grand Central? In about a week, one of the firms is going to announce a revolutionary product. Under the guise of helping that corporation's rival, can Ray and Claire work their own theft and find an independent buyer? To work together, using the corporate rivalry to their advantage, they would have to trust one another - difficult, if not impossible. Or, is one playing the other?

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Plot Keywords:

product | con | spy | dubai | flashback | 

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Taglines:

Outwit. Outspy. Outsmart. Outplay. Then get out.

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Genres:

Crime | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Spain] Official site [France]

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English Spanish Russian German

Release Date:

20 March 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Duplicidad

Filming Locations:

Atlantis Casino, Paradise Island, Bahamas

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£796,244 (UK) (20 March 2009)

Gross:

$40,559,930 (USA) (22 May 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Laura Bickford Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Claire Stenwick is named for classic-era movie actress Barbara Stanwyck.

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Goofs

In the beginning of the movie, the captioning says they are at the US Consulate in Dubai, but they are actually at the One & Only Ocean Club Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The consulate in Dubai is a skyscraper, not the villa we see.

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Quotes

Claire Stenwick: My caper's in the Bahamas. Where's yours?
Ray Koval: Cleveland.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Duplicity/Knowing/I Love You, Man (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Besame Smoocho"
Written by Daniel May
Performed by Daniel May
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari/MasterSource

User Reviews

Too flash, too clever, too confusing - 62%

The second movie I watched on honeymoon two weeks ago was this, what appeared to be a stylish and very cool spy film with lots of witty dialogue and two big name actors in the lead. And that's exactly what this is though it does have a number of flaws that aren't immediately obvious in the trailer. It's too flash for its own good, desperately trying to fool you into thinking Steven Soderbergh is in the director's chair and ultimately, it ends up tangled in its own web of deceit. Shame because Julia Roberts and Clive Owen deserve better than this.

"Duplicity" is a complex tale, focusing on two shady characters called Ray Koval (Owen) and Claire Stenwick (Roberts) who now work as corporate spies. Initially on opposite sides of a feud between industrial tycoon Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and bitter rival Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti), the pair decide to work together in order to steal industrial secrets for a tidy sum. At least, that's the plan. It's left up to the viewer to keep track of the story as it flashbacks, split-screens and twists at frequent intervals.

I can only guess that "Ocean's Eleven" is a favourite film of director Tony Gilroy because "Duplicity" tries so hard to imitate it with its globe-trotting storyline, subtle easy-listening soundtrack and visual gimmickry. Trouble is, the whole film ends up getting hopelessly muddled as the film jumps all over the place, meaning an already complicated story is pretty much lost forever. On the plus side, Roberts and Owen provide two extremely watchable lead characters and are ably supported by Wilkinson and the always good Giamatti. It's just such a shame that this film is so confusing. Not being neither a rom-com, thriller or straight comedy makes "Duplicity" as confusing to pigeonhole as it is to watch.

I wanted to like this because I genuinely thought it would be good. I love "Ocean's Eleven" (not bothered about the sequels, mind) and felt that this would be in the same vein. Sadly, "Duplicity" isn't coherent enough for you to follow and when the conclusion does arrive, it's unsatisfying, implausible and like the rest of the film, too clever for its own good. If anything, this film does two things. It reminds us why Owen wasn't quite good enough to be Bond and it also makes you want to watch "Ocean's Eleven" because it's a much better film than this. Ho-hum hokum but nothing more.