Deception

Plot synopsis:
Timid accountant Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) is an auditor working in New York. One night while working late in a boardroom he meets a charismatic lawyer, Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), who befriends him over a joint. After a long conversation, Jonathan takes the subway home where he has a brief encounter with a blonde woman (Michelle Williams) while waiting for the train. Upon returning home he notices a pipe in his bedroom is leaking and leaving a stain.
Jonathan contacts Wyatt the next day and they play tennis after work. They meet again for lunch the next day and upon leaving, Wyatt takes Jonathan's mobile phone instead of his own, forcing a trade. He mentions he will be in London on business for the next few weeks. When Jonathan realizes the phones have been switched he attempts to contact Wyatt but does not reach him. He is soon contacted by a woman (Natasha Henstridge) who asks if he is free that night. He informs her that he is and agrees to meet her. When she arrives, they proceed directly to a hotel room upstairs and have sex. In the morning, Jonathan realizes that Wyatt must be on some type of exclusive sex club list.
When Wyatt calls the next day, he encourages Jonathan to stay on the list. Jonathan has an encounter with an older woman (Charlotte Rampling) who explains the list's rules: the initiator pays for the room, no names are exchanged, there is no rough play. Participants are always anonymous, although Jonathan later spots the older woman on the cover of Forbes. Over the next few weeks, he has anonymous encounters with several women.
One night after initiating another encounter, Jonathan is surprised to find that his partner is the blond woman he met while waiting for the train. He tells her that they have met once before, and instead of having sex, they order room service and talk for hours. The woman does not say her name, but Jonathan assumes that it begins with an "S" because of an S-shaped pendant on her handbag. The next day Jonathan rejects other callers from the list but when "S" calls again they agree to meet for dinner in Chinatown. They then proceed to a hotel where she requests some ice. When Jonathan returns to the room she is gone and there is blood on the bedsheets. Someone knocks him out from behind, and when he wakes up again the bed has been made. He contacts the police and explains to the Detective (Lisa Gay Hamilton) that "S" is missing but that he has little to no information about her. She doubts his story, thinking that he is delusional. Jonathan tries to trace Wyatt, but Wyatt's boss and landlady claim not to know him.
Upon returning home Jonathan is surprised to find Wyatt waiting for him and demanding that he steal $20 million from an investment firm he will begin to audit in a few days. Jonathan agrees to do so, fearing for the safety of "S". The following night at work, Jonathan receives a call asking if he is free. The woman calling is named Tina (Maggie Q), an investment banker who once introduced Wyatt to the exclusive sex club list. She reveals that Wyatt's real name is Jamie Getz, and that they met when he was attending a private corporate event as a guest of Rudolph Holloway, an investment banker with whom Getz played tennis. Jonathan finds out through research that Getz murdered Holloway, strangling him with tennis strings, and also served three years in prison for insurance fraud and arson. Jonathan is later notified by the detective that a blond woman matching his earlier description was discovered dead. When he comes in to identify her, he sees that it is actually the first woman who called him, and that she was also strangled by tennis strings.
Jonathan goes on to complete a wire transfer to a bank in Spain in his name, but secretly adds Wyatt's name as co-signer. When he returns home he notices that a picture Wyatt had sent of "S" being held captive was taken in his apartment before the pipe started leaking. He realizes that she must have been a conspirator and wisely avoids his apartment which explodes when the superintendent enters to fix the pipe.
Now in Madrid, Wyatt impersonates Jonathan and attempts to withdraw the funds from the bank, but he is denied access because of the co-signer. Jonathan approaches Wyatt outside the bank and agrees to help him withdraw the funds if Wyatt splits it with him. Swapping identities, Jonathan and Wyatt cash in the $20 million in two $10 million suitcases. (A deleted scene reveals that Jonathan encountered a black market operator in Chinatown, who offered a variety of items, including fake passports; Jonathan presumably obtained a passport with his image in the name of Wyatt Bose and used this in his scheme to obtain half of the money.) After the transaction is complete, Jonathan offers Wyatt half of his money if Wyatt tells him where "S" is. Wyatt pretends to agree and lures Jonathan to an uncrowded area where he draws a gun on Jonathan. Before he is able to shoot Jonathan, Wyatt is shot by "S" who leaves quickly. Jonathan pursues her, leaving a dying Wyatt and the money behind. He begs her to talk to him but she'd rather call it off, apologizing to him as she did not know Wyatt's intent to kill Jonathan. "S" gets into a cab and leaves as Jonathan watches her go.
In Madrid, Jonathan again crosses paths with "S" and they exchange smiles. The film ends as Jonathan walks to her and she stands waiting for him.
=== Alternate Ending ===
In the alternate ending of the film, Wyatt disappears right after they finish their business in the bank. Jonathan also disappears with his part of the money and finally, "S" is seen running away (that is the same scene shown in the theatrical version). At the end, Jonathan is seen walking around Madrid as he continues his desperate search for "S."

Tags: romantic, revenge, murder, atmospheric, plot twist

Review:
Michelle Williams is suitably enigmatic as the girl involved, Hugh Jackman as Wyatt Bose brings charm and charisma to the part, and Ewan McGregor as Jonathan McQuarry convinces as the straight, lonely accountant seduced into the events played out.However the performances alone can't save the movie from being a disappointing, predictable thriller..
If they cut this movie in half and decided to re-shoot it with a believable ending, it might have been a 5, but this movie is a solid 1 because of the low IQ of the plot.The Spanish Prisoner with Steve Martin is a thousand times better than this stupid dog, that ripped of that script and added some scantily clad women as window dressing and a completely unrealistic "love" interest..
A movie that was made almost twenty years ago and features two main characters that are carbon copies of those of McGregor and Jackman, only they were played respectively by James Spader and Rob Lowe.Whatever "twists" are found in Deception, you see them coming from a mile and they fall flat.
Even the "list" subplot feels tacked on and doesn't even provide any enjoyment, nor does it add anything to the film.The photography is amazing but this is truly a poor Hollywood movie and one that you will be better off passing on, unless you are a die-hard fan of the genre or one of the main actors featured.
Ewan McGregor never convinces as a meek accountant (who actually admits to sleeping with only four women in his entire life!) whose cell-phone is switched with that of a swinging New York City lawyer (Hugh Jackman, also none-too-convincing with a hack American accent).
This movie is supposed to be a thriller, but is unfortunately quite short of "thrills".My biggest complaint would be the movie's pace - it is very slow, and at times quite boring.There are far too many implausabilities and plot holes, but even if you suspend your disbelief and just accept the story being told, it's still not a very good movie.
The trailer of this movie looked interesting.The story is about an accountant Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) who meets Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor)  who in turn introduces Wyatt to a secret sex club.
The movie moves slowly throughout, gains maximum interest in the deceiving part  holds your attention, but remaining times  it is just a usual dull affair.Both Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor look great and act well.
But the style of narration does not build up that interest to make a great cinema of a good story like this.First time director Marcel Langenegger does a decent job in delivering a visually good cinema  good closeups, good acting, good music, good movements of camera  I think he has a good eye for making better movies.I think there is a problem with the scripting of the movie.
But nobody told the director coz he was carrying on like he was fooling us with a clever story leading up to a historic twist...well if you don't guess it then please stop watching movies now...OMG...so predictable!!!
And yet with all of its flaws and mishaps Deception does get something right, well for 20 minutes at least it manages to capture a minor bit of interest.A disconnected accountant finds his mundane life injected with a new sense of urgency after striking up a friendship with a charismatic attorney in director Marcel Langenegger's sexually charged action thriller.Jonathan (Ewan McGregor) is an accountant who has lost his passion in life.
When his powerful new lawyer friend, Wyatt (Hugh Jackman), introduces Jonathan to a salacious underground sex club called The List, the the dejected accountant soon believes he has found the woman of his dreams (Michelle Williams).
His Jonathan McQuarry cuts a pitiable figure that most of us in the corporate world will probably understand.In comes a highly sociable, humorous, and charismatic legal counsel of the firm, Wyatt Bose (played by Hugh Jackman, who also serves as producer), and the two hit it off over a late night filled with jokes and the sharing of pot in a conference room, before getting so chummy with each other, that going to strip clubs to chill out seemed perfectly OK.
Of course, you can feel right at home with the pervasive use of cell phones, but then you may watch enough TV to be used to them as dramatic device.Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) is a dorky high-level auditor with the requisite glasses and outdated haircut who stumbles into a sex ring, aided by the urbane Wyatt Bose (High Jackman).
As Jonathan enjoys himself picking the ever so sweet fruit from this vine, he falls in love with one of the anonymous partners, not a good thing to do.The ensuing plot complications are as clichéd as clouds in Seattlethey don't always make sense, but, hey, this is the movies!
You can feel the movie trying to stretch your imagination to make room for it's stereotypes and plot holes.After this a few scantily dressed women have sex with the accountant but movie refuses to become interesting as all the encounters are flat and after an 45 minutes you are still waiting for something to happen.Fortunately Jackman comes to rescue by playing the villain for a bit and finally the movie groans onwards.
Michelle Williams gets some screen time but plays like 3 different, unrelated plot devices (sorry, characters) and the movie goes nowhere slowly.In the end, Jackman was good, Ewan was Ewan and the ending scenes reminded me it's beautiful weather outside and I could be sitting outside with some friends having a cold beer.
I for one had a darn good time viewing the film though for the way it was done and the scenes blended well especially the sex scenes and the acting from the characters and the plot for the way it builds up suspense is some of the best I had seen in a good time.Hugh Jackman enters as top notch and big time lawyer Wyatt Bose who befriends an auditor for the firm by the name of Johnathan McQuarry(Ewan McGregor).
As you will see I don't want to spoil it when the tables turn identity wise then finally some fairness has come into the game.Overall "Deception" may be a little predictable and easy for some veteran movie people to figure out yet still it's suspenseful enough to enjoy and mostly it's carried by it's sexy scenes as the performances from Jackman was wicked and Williams is innocently likable.
I like being generous when it comes to making Hollywood films, and not being too harsh, as Directing is supposed to be a difficult job.Anyway, to cut a long story short, this is a good film, though fairly predictable for a lot of Movie Lovers, it was still entertaining enough for me.Perhaps Ewan has been a little out of acting practice because of his long bike rides, because it took a while for me to adapt to his performance in this, though Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams were fine.I would be generous enough to give this a perfect 10 (because I'm a nice guy), but what stops it getting that extra 1 from 10 is the face that it is so similar to Bad Influence from the early 90s with Rob Lowe and James Spader, so .....
An anonymous sex club that dominates the beginning of the film, wasn't necessary at all for the scam, and this is a serious indication that the movie is pretentious and just tries to incorporate elements so to become more intriguing.The same goes for the ridiculous twists, one after the other near the end.
Twists so to speak, because you can see them coming a mile away.Lots of well known actors in this and they give adequate performances but there are so many flaws plotwise that you can't really take this movie seriously, especially the last 15 minutes or so.The direction doesn't work well either nor the music which sets the tone of the film."Are you free tonight?" is the code line for the secret sex network.
One night while working late a smooth talking well dressed lawyer named Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) introduces himself to Jonathan, Wyatt offers Jonathan a certain green cigarette and the two quickly establish a friendship and begin to socialize with one another and soon enough, Jonathan is involved in a secret sex club.Deception is a movie where it attempts to bring back the dying erotic thriller genre and to some degree it works, the concept of this sex club amongst Manhattans elite is intriguing and watching Jonathan gain confidence in himself and doing things he thought he never would makes for quite a watch.
Deception is a disappointing thriller starring Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams.
For those of you who haven't seen it yet I won't tell you what it's about except that even the three leads including Jackman, McGregor, and Williams who did an all right job in their roles but even they can't save this film from being lame and predictable.
Overall Deception is a flawed attempt at an erotic thriller that could've been a lot better than it was and despite the talented cast who try to bring life to their characters the movie itself just isn't that great and when it's over you can help but feel disappointed..
On many aspects,Deception is like many crappy generic erotic thrillers made for TV.I think that the element which makes Deception marginally better than those rubbish films is the presence of two brilliant actors...who are unfortunately wasted by the boring and painfully predictable screenplay.In other words,Deception is a very bad thriller.I think the worst point from it is the screenplay,which results too basic and predictable.If you do not figure out the twists from this movie,you have never seen a thriller.Plus,this is one of that movies which make the characters to act stupidly for making the story to advance.So,the spectators only have a collection of obvious twists and boring scenes.This film has so many (predictable) twists on its desperate effort of amazing us with its (non-existant) ingenuity.The only saving grace from this movie is the performances from Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman,who show enormous charisma on their characters.All the time,I wished to see this two talented actors on a better film than this crappy erotic thriller.The female cast (composed by Michelle Williams,Natasha Henstridge,Maggie Q and Charlotte Rampling) does not have much to do.Lisa Gay Hamilton did not convince me at all on her character.Deception is a very crappy film which commits the fatal mistake of being boring.In summary,this movie is a waste of time and I suggest you to do something more interesting than watching this boring and predictable thriller..
This was okay, I was expecting it to better though with Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams attached but it just fell kinda flat especially as an "erotic thriller".
I will say it didn't ever go where I thought it going to, the mystery aspect was unique in that respect.Ewan McGregor plays a nerdy shy accountant here who is introduced to a secretive sex club known as "The List" when he mistakenly swaps phones with his smooth talking lawyer friend Hugh Jackman.
"Are you free tonight?" is how it all starts, Jonathan soon falls for one of the members and then becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance as well as a multi-million dollar heist.Jackman and McGregor had pretty good chemistry together, I like both these actors so they were an easy sell and it was interesting how they managed to look so alike later on.
Based on the story and the good acting by all involved this film is entertaining and will keep your interest if you've had enough sleep the night before.Jackman is excellent and Ewan does a great job doing something he's not typically cast for.
straight to the bone auditor, played by Ewan McGregor in a very good way, who got involved in a very twisted plot at the beginning that finally brought him to a rather banal blackmail and money fraud story Nothing new in here, well, that is true Hugh Jackman is a very good choice here, too.
This is the director's first credit as a director...now I'm sure that he had directed other stuff, maybe commercials or videos of sorts but as a major film, this is pretty decent.It has a nice story to it, but I didn't like the very end...the very end...not the end or near the end...but the very end.I found it tight and well performed, but senseless in the fact that anybody who works as an escort would just ask "Are you free tonight?' without having any idea who is answering the phone or knowing any more details.That is the major flaw I found to this story.The rest was good, but the stupidity of a girl randomly calling a number in hopes that somebody answers and they make a business date is pretty dumb.That aside, I enjoyed it.However this should have called for a depressing ending...I just felt it would have worked out better..
I would have liked that this movie had been more like the Michael Douglas film "The Game (1997)" but in a sexual aspect.The life of Jonathan McQuarry,a lonely accountant, will have a big change when he meets Wyatt Bose and begins to hang out with him being introduced to a kind of sex club where he will find the love of his life but he might lose her too .....6.5 stars = regular +.
Continuing my plan to watch every Hugh Jackman movie in order, I come to Deception (2008)Plot In A Paragraph: An accountant is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend.
Continuing my plan to watch every Hugh Jackman movie in order, I come to Deception (2008)Plot In A Paragraph: An accountant is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend.
its about sex, money and black mailing and nothing wrong with Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, and Michelle Williams they all done a great job acting, its the story thats gets slow and boring at times it just needed a slight rewrite for the odd parts with a occasional stupid line from someone.
Wyatt (played by Hugh Jackman) has come up with a plot to steal millions from an investment company, using Jonathon (Ewan McGregor) - an accountant doing an audit on the firm - to transfer the appropriate funds to an offshore bank.
The primary one was that the whole plot depended on Jonathon falling head over heels in love with "S" - Michelle Williams - a woman he meets through an anonymous sex club Wyatt sets him up in.
At the same time the gimmick is working through the plot's bloodstream, big doses of things like "contrivances" and "Holy s***, are these people kidding me?" theatrics.With Deception, the so-called deception can be seen within about I would say one and a half minutes of Hugh Jackman's performances (which involves, at that point, smoking up Ewan McGregor's character Jonathan with weed late at night in a high-rise office), and from there on in it's a matter of fish in the barrel for the writer and director.
When Jonathan tells his story to the police, no one believes him but soon, he also discovers that Wyatt is not what he seems to be.Directed by Marcel Langenegger made an good-looking thriller with an fine performance by McGregor.
He meets S, a mysterious girl he just falls for, but when she is "kidnapped", he gets in a lot deeper than he expects and doesn't realize the set up he fell for.Deception is predictable in some ways, the ending, if you are used to these thrillers, yes, you're going to be able to see what's coming, sad, I know, but I'm so used to it that I'm just accepting it.
In Manhattan, the shy auditor Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) befriends the lawyer Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) in the office where he is working.
And Deception had promise: Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams, actors I think highly of; Dante Spinotti, brilliant cinematographer of Heat and LA Confidential; and a story of anonymous sex, a secret list and white-collar crime.Unfortunately, Deception turned out to be a film of unfulfilled promises.
It's pretty entertaining, but it's just not as good as it could have been.Ewan McGregor plays kind of a nerdy, shy accountant who one night meets Hugh Jackman's character (Wyatt Bose), a suave, kind of wild Wall Street-type guy who's pretty much the complete opposite of McGregor.
Shy loner accountant Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) has no life outside his numbers, until one night he meets lawyer Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), who introduces him to life.When Wyatt goes away to London on business, Jonathan 'accidentally' gets Wyatt's phone, and soon he's being called by dozens of women who are all a part of a sex club, and now his life is filled with everything he's ever imagined.One night he runs into another member of the list, S (Michelle Williams), before he knows she's on the list, and it's love at first sight for him.
It was mostly towards the end when the winces of disbelief appeared.It's a suspense story in which naive, dumb, prosperous burgher Ewan McGregor is blackmailed by smiling, psychopathic, murdering Hugh Jackman and sultry but beef-brained Michelle Williams.I don't think I'll give away much of the plot because it's twisted and at the end it explodes into a multitude of flapdoodles.I found the acting to be pretty good.
Ewan McGregor is solid as Jonathon, an everyman sort of character caught up in what seems like a dream but what turns into a nightmare; Hugh Jackman impresses as the charismatic 'Wyatt' and Michelle Williams is good as the woman known only as 'S' who Jonathon understandably falls for.
Lonely accountant/auditor Jonathan (Ewan McGregor) is befriended by charismatic lawyer Wyatt (Hugh Jackman).