Duplicity

In a word, this movie was a joke. Given the subject line – corporate executives who play spy games with their competitors, I honestly thought the movie would hold my interest. But I was wrong because the writing, the acting, the plot – just about everything – was poorly executed.

The writing too seemed “dumbed down.” Couldn’t they come up with a better name than “Blocter & Blamble,” Seriously, my five-year-old could have done better. The acting too seems tired and uninspired. Julia Roberts cackles her way through the movie, and actually does very little quality acting. Clive Owen spends most of his time just glowering. The plot, two spies working for competing shampoo companies really seems tired and predictable, and very poorly executed. The only saving grace is Paul Giamatti’s performance. While it’s not much better than that of the other actors, at least he looks like he’s having some fun in his role as a blustering CEO.

I would not recommend wasting your time seeing this flick because it won’t be at all what you’d expect given the plot line. Yes, it could have made for great drama, with maybe a little good comedy thrown in, but instead it seems to have been a good idea that got fouled up in the execution. Now whether the fault lies in the direction, the acting, or the script, I wouldn’t know. But somebody took a great idea here and turned it into a piece of pretty much worthless trash.

Don’t waste your time.