It's a pity...that James Newton Howard's music score is so relentlessly intrusive and that Gilroy's plotting gets so complicated before everything becomes clear in the end.
Comment
03/27/09
Duplicity (2009)
74
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:35
Fresh:26
Rotten:9
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: Duplicity is well-crafted, smart, and often funny, but it’s mostly more cerebral than visceral and features far too many plot twists.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Mar 19, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $40,559,930
Synopsis: DUPLICITY is a slick, Soderberghian comic caper in which it’s never exactly clear who is being conned. It’s easy to see that ex-CIA agent Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) and former MI6 member Ray... [More]
Starring: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti
Director: Tony Gilroy
Reviews for Duplicity
1 - 16 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Top CriticOnce Gilroy has the film on track with all passengers aboard and accounted for, you do start wondering if he can keep up the momentum. He does -- although so much contrivance is involved that he often runs the risk of leaving you behind.
03/27/09
Top CriticEssentially formulaic fare. Although Julia Roberts is quite good, the love scenes look exactly like what they are: famous people pretending.
03/20/09
Top CriticOn the simplest level, Duplicity is a tribute to the power of performance.
03/20/09
Top CriticThere are nice moments, just not quite enough of them.
03/20/09
Top CriticWhatever the onscreen dilemma for Clive Owen's Ray and Julia Roberts' Claire, for us, it's a no-brainer. This slick and persuasive crime thriller has so much chemistry and chutzpah; we're hooked from the start
03/14/09
Top CriticDuplicity is an enormously enjoyable hybrid, a romantic comedy set at the center of a caper movie.
03/23/09
Top CriticA pleasant big-studio diversion, a screwball romance with beautiful movie stars set in gorgeous hotel rooms, deluxe office spaces and corporate jets. It's smart, it's for grown-ups and it lets Julia Roberts laugh, if just once.
03/20/09
Top CriticWith its smart writing delivered by an in-synch quartet, savor Duplicity as the ideal spring gift.
03/20/09
Top CriticThe script has so many twists and double-crosses, flashbacks and re-interpretations of events that frankly I just gave up, and followed the action. Which wasn't quite enough to hold me. A pity.
03/20/09
Top CriticHowever you describe it, Duplicity is superior entertainment, the most elegantly pleasurable movie of its kind to come around in a very long time.
03/19/09
Top CriticDuplicity is betrayed by a surfeit of intricacy. Its ironic complexities tease the brain without pleasing the heart.
03/19/09
Top CriticEverything in Duplicity may be a scam, but [director] Gilroy's talent is the real thing.
03/19/09
Top CriticDuplicity is entertaining, but the complexities of its plot keep it from being really involving. The fun is in watching Roberts and Owen fencing with dialogue, keeping straight faces, trying to read each other's minds.
03/19/09
Top CriticA glamorous, diverting escapade that over-30s in particular can enjoy.
03/17/09
Top CriticSmart, droll and dazzling to look at and listen to, writer-director Tony Gilroy's effervescent, intricately plotted puzzler proves in every way superior to his 2007 success Michael Clayton.
03/16/09
Top Critic1 - 16 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Latest News for Duplicity
July 23, 2009:
RT on DVD: Duplicity, Friday the 13th and MacGyver!
If you're looking for a bit of DVD froth and fun on the couch on a cold winter's night, what could be better than a Julia Roberts/Clive Owen rom-com-caper? The dialogue is... More...
March 19, 2009:
Critics Consensus: I Love You, Man Is A Fine Bromance
This week at the movies, we've got a bromantic comedy (I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel), ominous numerology (Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne),... More...
March 19, 2009:
Box Office Guru Preview: Cage, Roberts, and Rudd Battle For #1 Spot
Three new films roll into North American multiplexes and for the first time in ages, all three have a realistic chance of claiming the number one spot. Comedies have been... More...
March 14, 2009:
Duplicity teams masters of mutual deceit in sizzling make up sex for spies, Julia squirming her way through one night stand pretend amnesia with toe rings, and a different kind of screwing of flabby corporate cutthroats in designer suits. 
More...
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