Screenhead

Walking into Duplicity, I couldn’t shake this incredible sense of déjà vu, like I’d been here before.  I looked at this clever little spy thriller of sorts and said, you know, this looks FAMILIAR.

But more on that later—the plot awaits us!  A pair of spies–Julia Roberts for the CIA and Clive Owen representing MI6–have left their lives of governmental espionage in exchange for a master plan of huge profit and high adventure in the corporate espionage field.  And they think they’ve found their honey pot in the form of a conflict brewing between two rival consumer product firms, one headed by a true zealot of efficiency and corporate dogma, the other a freewheeling publicity hound desperate to sink his rival.  How desperate?   The two get in a small fistfight within their first minute on screen together.  Meanwhile, we’ll also get a look at the surprising history that Roberts and Owen’s spy counterparts share on their way to the (hopefully) eventual fruition of their dreams.

The first thing I thought when seeing this was that it was to be this year’s version of Catch Me If You Can, a compact if somewhat trite punchy rollout of a couple spies going after corporate secrets with all the verve and élan that only spies could muster.    But what I got was an oddly fragmented but still somehow charming story of two spies who didn’t trust each other farther than they could throw each other, and yet, somehow, despite it all were still MADLY in love with each other.  Me personally, I say that each one loved the challenge that the other represented—they had to be on top of their game constantly around each other, and that they continually kept each other guessing kept both from getting bored with the other.

And that’s the really amazing part about Duplicity—almost all the fun here is had from Roberts and Owen’s constant wordplay.  It’s almost like watching them duel with rapiers at close range; the flourishes and the clashes and the occasional disarming that causes the other to fall silent…but it doesn’t last long as the temporarily silenced half of the conversation quickly recovers and launches a flurry of new blows.

Yes, the action in here doesn’t come from explosions or bloodshed or gun battles, but it’s no less exciting for the lack.  It comes almost exclusively from conversation.  Oh, sure, there are a couple of really spiffy action sequences where tension is jacked through the roof—watch Julia Roberts try to make a copy of a secret formula, for example—and you’ll be downright surprised just how exciting watching a woman look for a copier can be.  Guys out there, take note—this is the kind of movie you could take your girlfriend to and BOTH of you will enjoy it.

I’ll be honest with you—if ALL chick flicks were THIS entertaining, you’d never get me out of a theatre. But they’re not, so nyeah.

And I’ll tell you this much: the ending will be a total masterstroke.  Seriously, total masterstroke; the chances of anyone seeing this coming are so slim as to be laughably low.  In fact, I have a hard time picturing ANYONE who wouldn’t enjoy this movie, unless you’ve got an attention span on par with that of a gerbil or something.  This one has a lot of incredible, punchy moments to it that’ll grab hold and won’t let go.  I loved Duplicity, and chances are good you will too.

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