Duplicity

Plot synopsis:
Duplicity starts out in Dubai at an outdoor party. Ray (Clive Owen) walks up to Claire (Julia Roberts) and says he noticed they had been checking each other out. Claire insists she had not been, but she ends up going back to his hotel room with him. We then cut to several shots of a drugged Ray lying on his bed while Claire searches his room and checks his pulse. It seems she had been on a mission and is stealing some important documents from him.There is a scene in slow motion with Garsick (Paul Giamatti) and Tully (Tom Wilkinson) each standing in front of their respective company planes surrounded by a set of each of their employees. They are shouting angrily at each other (it is silent though, we just see their mouths moving) and suddenly start fighting each other. They are clearly rival CEOs.We are then taken five years later. Ray is holding a mini Rubik's cube key chain and walks into a department store, where he spots Claire. He walks up to say hi and Claire pretends to know him, until she finally admits that she doesn't remember him. He asks if she is going to play it that way, meaning pretending not to know him. He tells her he is bad with names, a B or a B+ with faces, but he has traditionally been good with remembering people he's slept with. He knocks her bag over by accident, and the same Rubik's cube key chain falls out. They get real and realize they were each others' contacts. Claire reluctantly gives Ray a piece of paper to give to Duke (who we do not know yet). They talk in a bar where Ray tries to get Claire to apologize for Dubai. Claire tells him that she has been working for 14 months undercover at a company and has a high position so he'd better not mess it up. Ray threatens to expose her unless she fully cooperates with him for the rest of the mission.Ray brings the paper to some sort of lab or hideout that is run by Garsick's people, including Duke and Pam. It seems like the paper is a rough draft of a speech that Tully will be delivering. As Tully formally delivers his speech to all of his employees back at his company, we cut back and forth between him speaking and Garsick reading the rough draft aloud. Garsick realizes that this speech is about Tully's company discovering some new product and Garsick wants to find out what it is so he can steal the idea.Two years ago, in Rome, Ray is sitting at an outdoor café with a woman. She goes inside, and as he waits, he spots Claire. He follows her to her moped and says hi. Claire pretends to know him, until she finally admits that she doesn't. He asks if she is going to play that way, and tells her he is bad with names, a B or B+ with faces, but he has traditionally been good with remembering people hes slept with. She admits she knows him and apologizes for what happened in Dubai. She says she was on assignment. They end up back at his lavish hotel room and stay there for three days getting reacquainted.On the third day, Claire realizes her wake up call never came and she has missed her flight. Ray asks when she made the wake up call, and Claire admits she sneaked out of the tub with him the night before to make it. After some back and forth, Ray admits he cancelled the wake up call and now they are even for Dubai. It seems they are on good terms and really care for each other and are going to start a relationship. They agree that it would be great if they could work together to steal millions of dollars and then they could live in Rome together in happiness.Back to the present day, Garsick's people are analyzing Tully's acquisitions over the last 18 months to figure out what this product is. They realize he made 7 purchases in one day and then investigate travel records relating to these purchases. They come to the conclusion that Tully is working with a young genius named Ronny Partiz. Ronny graduated college at a young age and got caught plagiarizing a paper. He made some formula for lotion, and then it is clarified that it is actually a cream. Ronny now lives in the Bahamas, where they believe he has developed a cure for baldness.Fourteen months ago, Claire visits Ray and he is very excited to see her. She asks about a thong she found in his closet, but he insists that it's impossible. She admits that it was hers and she needed to hear him say that he didn't cheat on her. Ray tells her about a job with a frozen pizza company. He thinks this should be their big plan to make their millions. There are two competing companies trying to work on different types of frozen pizza, and when there is competition, there are checks being written. Claire tells him that she was offered a job at Tully's company yesterday and took it. He is a little angry, until she gets him to admit that he took the job at the pizza company already, too. They agree to work separately for a while, but will maintain their relationship.In the present, Ray and Boris, another man from Garsick's team, are in the Bahamas to track down Ronny. They are at a casino watching him. Claire and Dale, another of Tully's employees, are seen planting things in a hotel room that would imply that the guest was planning to cheat. Cut back to the casino, and we see Claire and Dale escorting Ronny out, as security arrests Ray and Boris. One of the security guards is actually somehow from Ray's team, so it is implied that he got released.Tully is in a private meeting with Claire and tells her that he wants to tell her what their special and secret product is. He says she can protect it better if she is in on what it is. He tells her about the baldness cure.Duke and another man on his team reveal to Ray that they had tape recorded his initial meeting with Claire and are angry he didn't tell them he knew her. They play back the conversation and we hear Ray's line about being a B or B+ with names and great with people he's slept with. Suddenly, the men start laughing. It seems they believed that Ray and Claire hadn't spoken since Dubai (although we know otherwise), and think it's hilarious how Ray really stuck it to her and called her out. They tell Ray that Claire had requested a personal meeting with Garsick to reveal something big and he has to go with.Cut to a few months ago (possibly two months ago). Claire is telling Ray about the big new product at Tully's company and says she thinks she can get him a job as an agent in Garsick's team. He is reluctant because the pizza business is really heating up because they are developing a new Hawaiian flavor. She gets him to agree to quit his job and take the agent position.Back in the present, Garsick and Ray are at a bowling alley when Claire shows up. Garsick asks if she wants any food or drinks, when Ray says she's fine. Claire says she's starving and wants Ray to get her some frozen pizza. Ray goes to order the pizza and sees that is the pizza of the company he had been competing against. Claire leaves so Ray rushes over. He is too late to find out what she said.Ray rushes back to his apartment to check his passports and money and sees that half of everything is gone. He sees Claire outside and she admits she was hurt by finding out Ray had slept with someone as part of his job to gain access to Tully's company. She says it's strictly business between them now. She gets a phone call and has to leave immediately to go to Tully's business.At Tully's we see Dale handcuffed to a chair because he had tried to steal Ronny's hair growth formula. Claire tapes Dale's eyes and mouth closed and takes the formula. She calls Ray, who is at the hideout. Garsick's team had rigged several photocopiers in Tully's building to send a copy of whatever is photocopied to Garsick's hideout. Ray asks Pam and an IT guy to figure out where the nearest photocopier is so Claire can copy the formula. Claire copies it once, and Ray holds the copy on his end up to Pam with a blank sheet in front of it to show it didn't work and stuffs it in his pocket. Claire does it again and Ray says it worked.Later, Garsick's team is having a celebration over the fact that they got the formula. Claire bursts in and is angry that she had to risk her job and wants a new identity. She calls Ray out for stealing the formula and leaves. They search Ray and see the formula in his bag.At the airport, Claire waits for Ray and he eventually shows up. They both admit they love each other and that they both have the formula. Ray has another copy and Claire has it in a picture on her cell phone. They leave for Switzerland to sell the formula.We cut back and forth between Claire and Ray trying to sell the formula and Garsick making a gigantic speech to his shareholders about his new product (the stolen baldness cure). As scientists hired by the Swiss check out the validity of the formula, Garsick continues to talk. The scientists talk to the Swiss businessman, who turns to Claire and Ray and says that the formula is for a simple lotion. He corrects himself and says it is for a cream. Claire and Ray know they have been played.Cut to 10 days ago. Claire and Ray are in their hotel room. Claire is on the bed and reading from a script. Claire says she doesn't remember Ray. Ray says that he is bad with faces, a B or B+ with names, and great with people he's slept with. Claire corrects his mistakes from the script and tells him she prefers when he says he's traditionally great with people he's slept with. They talk about how they have to get this perfect because they will have to do it for real in 12 hours. We see that their room is bugged. On the other end of the bug, Tully, Dale, Ronny, and Pam (from Garsick's team), are listening to Claire and Ray. Tully says this is perfect. Dale reports that they let Claire find the rough draft last week. They talk about how they are going to use Ronny's real life story and add in the parts about the cure for baldness. Ronny says he is going back to the Bahamas after this meeting. This had all been a plan to bring down Garsick by letting him think they had this new product that doesn't exist.We see Claire and Ray sitting in the Swiss hotel, when a man brings them over Champagne with a note saying that it was from Tully. They talk about how they only have each other now.

Tags: violence, intrigue, romantic, flashback

Review:
'Duplicity' is a fun little spy film, with some fine performances by Roberts and Owen and plenty of well written dialogue, but it is brought down by the overly complex plot and I fear will leave even fans of the genre feeling slightly numb when the credits role..
Starring Julia Roberts ( Claire Stenwick) ,and Clive Owen (Ray Koval), as "Duplicitous" spies, the film tries to recreate the glitter, froth and intrigue of roles made famous by the likes of Cary Grant in the 1950's, yet fails under leaden direction and total lack of chemistry between the leads.Director "Michael Clayton" Tony Gilroy also has writing credits for The Bourne series, so his credentials are excellent.
Sue me, I'm a Julia Roberts fan, I actually like Owen – we all make mistakes so no judgments on some projects, and I love a good 'Ocean's Eleven'-type spy/dark comedy.
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.
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.
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.
DUPLICITY Director: Tony Gilroy Country: USA Year: 2009 Language: English Runtime: 120 Minutes Rating: 15AA couple of weeks after the exceedingly average THE INTERNATIONAL (2009) rolled into theatres Clive Owen is back with DUPLICITY, the latest from Tony Gilroy, director of the good but vastly over-rated MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007) and writer of the wonderful trilogy of Bourne movies.
After landing two perfect leads and two of the best character actors of this generation, Gilroy offers up a tedious, bungled mess that is really never that clever and certainly gives the feeling of holding back these four fine actors.The multi-frame look, non-linear time line, repeated dialogue and smirky exchanges between Clive and Julia are just some of the clichéd tricks used to make this seem more interesting and complicated than it really is.Clive Owen shows again that he would have made a sterling James Bond (nothing against Daniel Craig, who is excellent).
I really wanted to like this film, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen two very good actors but no, I couldn't get to grips with the plot and characterisations or lack of either.
Coming off of his debut feature Michael Clayton, after years of working on stuff like the Bourne movies, to his second film Duplicity, he's marked some strong territory as a guy who can work with top-shelf A-list talent and put them in material that is mature just enough to make it safe for the 30+ year olds to see it and not think their intelligence is being wasted.
At the least, it makes for a strong matinée viewing, if one were to rate it such.Like one of those features from the 40s or 50s from Hitchcock where he would place Cary Grant and (insert blonde bombshell here), Duplicity relies on its stars, and sometimes its dependable character actor supporting players, to make it more about watching them and how they go about the material as opposed to the real specifics of what to worry in the plot itself.
It's certainly a lot more fun trying to explain how well Clive Owen and Julia Roberts fit into this classic Hollywood couple mold (not to mention since it's their second time on-screen following the more theater-based Closer) and play off one another than describing how "one is a MI6 and the other CIA and their operatives in these corporate firms and one might be making a toaster oven or yada yada and they both do A and B and..." So yeah, basically Duplicity is about conning and about not believing what the other person is saying, but at the same time Gilroy toys around with the idea of people who are stuck in a world where by proxy they can't trust one another but get each other so well who the other is at the same time.
The characters Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti play- who, by the way, share one of the funniest and most awesome opening credits sequences I've seen in years- are playing checkers in their corporate one-oneupmanship games, but it's Roberts and Owen that are playing chess which is a little brainier but trickier at the same time.One might criticize that there's almost too much of this back-and-forth guessing and curiously trying to figure out what the other is saying about something.
In a script that is otherwise sharp and clever and dramatically pleasing in construction and character Gilroy falls back on a couple of tired devices towards the end.It comes dangerously close, as Ebert pointed out, to saying simply "who cares?" But, thankfully, Duplicity does, for at least roughly in total 2/3 of the running time, give us characters to care about and go along for the ride with and so have this sheer joy of an A-list movie that tries to be about the guessing game and cons and covert operations and the nature of this whole thing Gilroy's dealing with.
Both Julia and Clive, seem comfortable and natural in their roles as lovers/operatives and the chemistry is at often times dazzling to watch.As a Director, Gilroy always pays careful, particular attention to detail.
Another poster, gary-444 from United Kingdom, said it best in his IMDb comments about this movie titled "Conned" on 24 March 2009, so I won't repeat what he said.I also agree with what another poster said somewhere else, that motherhood has indeed been kind to Julia Roberts figure-wise (although facially, she certainly has aged quite noticeably; there were a few ill-advised tight close-ups where she looked almost "skeletal" in the head shots).Here's the lowdown - through the first 30 or so minutes, all of the supposedly witty and clever dialogue between Clive and Julia just seems to be forever off half a beat, and not really believable.
Their two characters never really seem to have the on-screen chemistry the script was calling for, and so the audience really doesn't care for them as much (at least I didn't).The various contrived flashback device just didn't seem to work and only added to further confuse the story, not illuminate it.Perhaps most damning - don't lie down on the couch for any part of this movie, because you too may find yourself nodding off for a bit and not really missing it.The only good things about the movie - if this is really the extent to which intellectual espionage takes place in the corporate world, then that was certainly eye-opening and interesting.
I rated this movie only 2 stars out of 10 because although there were a couple of interesting things about it, otherwise I thought it was mainly a waste of time, with the real determinant being: no, I would never spend any time ever watching any part of it again.My recommendation: if you want to see a spy thriller/romance/intrigue movie with real witty reparteé, rent Hitchcock's classic "North by Northwest" instead.
The 'i love you' confession at the airport has to be some of the worst movie dialogue i've ever heard, if you thought Julia Roberts 'confession' was bad, you really won't want to listen to Clive Owen's.Just please don't see this, i can think a million better things you could pass time with, ANYTHING is better than this.
Both of them are in danger of becoming mere entertainment celebrities.I can only shake my head as I wonder how Roberts, Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Tom Wilkinson could possibly do this to the movie-going public - their own people!
But what really makes this movie worth a watch is the good chemistry between Julia and Owen and the dazzling dialog's.
Like it was written for 5 years old audience.In an effort to keep the attention of the audience a not very good and dull story of corporate espionage and love affair of two spies Ray and Claire is withholding the information (surprise surprise effect) throughout the movie.
He probably would have said the same thing about Duplicity.The story evolves around two spies(Clive Owen and Julia Roberts) who both work for rival companies, but are deeply in love.
There is good chemistry between Julia Roberts and Clive Owen but it all goes for naught in this meandering, confusing, mishmash of a movie.
You would think then that DUPLICITY, a film in which two very likable and sneaky folks, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, who have proved chemistry together from working previously in Mike Nichols' CLOSER, would be sticking it to each other so bad that you would delight in every jab they made at each other.
Well, the ultimate joke would be on you then because, while writer/director, Tony Gilroy, positions DUPLICITY as a feisty heist movie by stepping up the cool factor any way he can, it is actually nothing more than a failed prank fallen flat on its pretty Hollywood face.When we first meet Claire Stenwick and Ray Koval (Roberts and Owen), they are drinking it up in Dubai at the US consulate.
How could such great talent like, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti,and Tom Wilkinson couldn't even be able to resuscitate this sinking film.Is it the editors fault with the placement of scenes back and forth and back and forth.
'Duplicity' is a fun little spy film, with some fine performances by Roberts and Owen and plenty of well written dialogue, but it is brought down by the overly complex plot and I fear will leave even fans of the genre feeling slightly numb when the credits role.Evren Buyruk.
A spy film doesn't have to have so many twists and turns as to make the audience confused as to what is happening while watching, and wonder what happened, even after it is over.Julia Roberts is wasted in this nonsensical plot less, clueless venture.
It certainly looks very promising: A romantic spy thriller starring Clive Owen and Julia Roberts.
Heist films are implausible so it helps if they are also fun, but the story was too serious and the ending too downbeat.Julia Roberts plays Claire Stenwick a corporate spy working for a pharmaceutical company called Burkett & Randle.
A veteran from Gilroy's last film, Tom Wilkinson returns to provide support as the straight faced, serious CEO from Roberts's firm, with Paul Giamatti as his more comic relief rival but that they're one of the better things in the film says it all.In the end, I much preferred Michael Clayton's dark, thoughtful, unflinching style to Duplicity's smug, pretentious, alienating tone.
It's nice to see Julia Roberts looking as good as ever playing effortlessly off Clive Owen as two spies on opposite ends of the pond looking to make a big score off one of their respective bosses' ingenious idea.But everything is not as it seems, as multiple flashbacks and forwards tell us.
In fact, the movie does satisfy the above criterion but with a very disappointing score.Duplicity, starring Clive Owen and Julia Roberts is yet another addition to the endless collection of espionage and spy game thriller movies produced in Hollywood.
The movie, primarily set in New York narrates the story of how two super cool spies, Ray Koval(Clive Owen) and Claire Stenwick(Julia Roberts) get together and plan to trick a multinational company of 40 million dollars.
Writer-Director Tony Gilroy's "Duplicity" stars Julia Roberts as Claire Stenwick and Clive Owen as Ray Koval.
I found the look to the corporate espionage which brings us Duplicity absolutely fascinating.The extracted information from apparently trivial events; the analysis of the vehicular flow; statistics about the use of corporate team to search pornography; the recruiting of ex-"real" spies...all that subjects are examined on a very interesting way in this excellent movie.On Duplicity,the drama and intrigue do not round on atomic bombs,biological weapons or any other "mcguffin" frequently used on espionage movies,but on the industry of personal hygiene.I liked this movie very much,specially because of the fascinating view it makes to the espionage world.Director and screenwriter Tony Gilroy (whose phenomenal debut was the acclaimed movie Michael Clayton) wrote a brilliant screenplay.The structure from this movie is the one of the "big hit" and on the beginning,it seems easy to predict what is going to happen; however,when the movie advances a little bit,Gilroy finds excellent ways to fool us,so the movie finishes being completely unpredictable.And,besides of that,we have very well crafted dialogs and solid characters who are very precisely described.The ending of the movie is also great; I did not see it coming at all.The performances also help to this movie.Clive Owen and Julia Roberts bring competent works but the supporting cast is the one which stands out.Paul Giamatti is brilliant,as always,on the character of the director of a company.Tom Wilkinson also brings a great performance,which backs to show his big talent.And although their names sound unknown,Dan Daily,Rick Worthy,Oleg Shtefanko and Kathleen Chalfant also bring very solid performances.Gilroy made a very competent work as a director.His style of direction in this movie is very different to the one in Michael Clayton,and it is similar on some way to Ocean's Eleven and its sequels,which are enormously inferior movies to this one,at least in my humble opinion.The only negative element I found on this movie is that the sexual tension between the main characters did not feel completely honest and credible on a few occasions.But that is not a too important fail,specially in sight of all the positive elements from this movie.Duplicity kept me tremendously interested and entertained with its intrigue,its view to the espionage and with its completely unexpected twists from the screenplay.Duplicity is a fascinating movie for that reasons and much more and,because of that,I recommend it with a lot of enthusiasm.With Michael Clayton and this movie,Gilroy has become on one of the most interesting contemporary directors,and I am very enthusiasmed to see his next projects..
Roberts and Owen are pretty faces, but they've got dull characters to play and virtually no sexual chemistry, making one wonder if the relationship drama was even necessary at all.Fortunately, the rest of the movie is pretty good.
I wasn't wrong, but I also wasn't quite right either.Duplicity is a fun and sexy crime caper comedy that resonates with some of the better crime films, or as I like to call them "Get rich quick schemes" films, this movies has allot of good humor and acting but lacks in the thrill of the crime or even the shear enjoyment of it at all, albeit Paul Giamantti and Tom Wilkerson did make good rivals, and Julia and Clive weren't bad either.
The problem with Duplicity is that he did not find a better director than Tony Gilroy to direct a script which has many surprises, hidden angles, flashbacks and twists but too few of them are being turn into moments of good cinema suspense or emotions.Duplicity is the story of two ex-spies (one CIA - Julia Roberts, one MI-6 Clive Owen) who go private and plan a big scam by getting hired by two competing moguls in the shampoo industry.
DUPLICITY, by writer/director Tony Gilroy , of the BOURNE trilogy and MICHAEL CLAYTON fame, takes your standard heist plot and throws in elements of the perfect con game playing out a mutual mistrust that exists on every level from the main star pairing of Clive Owen and Julia Roberts to the always-outstanding supporting cast members of Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti, where the only constant is that smart is sexy.Gilroy plays fast and loose with a series of flashbacks and slick cuts reminiscent of a Soderberg Ocean's film that introduce Owen and Roberts' characters, professional liars that seemingly not only mistrust each other, but their employers as well.
Luckily, screenwriter Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton"), in a kind of homage to such romantic comedy puzzlers as "Charade" and "Gambit," is able to bring most of the disparate narrative strands together into a reasonably coherent whole for the finale, though there are some in the audience, I'm sure, who may not consider the prize worth all the mental effort required to claim it in the end.Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play two undercover agents who may or may not know one another, who may or may not be acting as spies for rival pharmaceutical firms, and who may or may not be moles in the companies for whom they're currently working.
Writer/director,Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)directs Julia Roberts & Clive Owen in a top notch tale of two corporate spy's that try to steal company secrets from a corporate sleazy weasel CEO to try & sell to a rival interest.
I just recently viewed the movie Duplicity with Clive Owen and Julia Roberts.
i'm of two minds about this Tony Gilroy(Michael Clayton)film.on the one hand,it's very well constructed,has great dialogue and great music.on the other hand,it's almost two clever for its own good.for one thing it jumps back and forth in time so many times,it was hard to keep track of what happened when.plus,you never really know who's doing what to who,or why.and the ending is a bit of a head scratcher.it made my head hurt trying to keep track of things.this is a movie that bears watching more than once.probably three or four times,and even then there's no guarantee you'll have it figured out.luckily there are a couple of other options.one,fugeddaboutit,it's not worth the effort.or two,enlist the help of three or four of your friends to watch it together,and maybe the can tell you what's going on.i'm not sure what option i'd pick.for me,Duplicity is a 6/10.
Sorry, but the chemistry between Julia Roberts and Clive Owen is not at the right level for the movie.