Gilroy also throws in a reverse chronology taking place in posh foreign locations (and Cleveland!) so as to mark the film as his own and conceal any narrative weaknesses.
Comment
04/23/09
Duplicity (2009)
65
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:166
Fresh:108
Rotten:58
Average Rating:6.3/10
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
21 - 40 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
It's good to see an espionage thriller that avoids the clichés of the genre.
04/23/09
Gilroy handles it expertly and maintains a light, jaunty tone.
04/08/09
Adopts old Hollywood mechanics %u2014- showy marquee stars, swift-witted dialogue, character-dominated plot %u2014- and relies on an audience willing to be tricked, surprised and challenged.
04/07/09
For all its bright banter and flashbacky fanciness, Duplicity boils down to this rudimentary formula: morality and success are functions of beauty.
04/07/09
A perfectly-crafted espionage thriller married to the best throwback rom-com in years.
04/07/09
Gilroy makes the mistake of applying the artful lighting, measured pace and severe sensibility of 'Michael Clayton' to screwball caper material.
04/06/09
Much of the fun is all about what's 'in play'--acting--from the spy and lover roles these characters may or may not be playing and which sides (personal, professional) they're playing for or against, to our assumptions about these stars' personas.
04/03/09
While the movie is modestly entertaining and tries to take full advantage of the promising coupling of Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, it never quite seals the deal.
04/03/09
Do we even care about these characters enough to worry about their machinations?
04/02/09
Writer-director Tony Gilroy, flush from his Michael Clayton success, retains that film's examination of corporate malfeasance yet replaces the sense of dread with a sense of style.
03/29/09
trust, lust, and double-crust pizzas
03/29/09
A battle of wits with smart, capable people on all sides. It is very slick and well-acted by a troupe of pros.
03/28/09
has the kind of narrative trickery that draws us in, but it's ultimately up to the actors to keep us interested, and in this regard the film is something of a mixed bag
03/28/09
Only incidentally a con movie, Duplicity is actually a subversive, high-wire romance, with the MacGuffin serving as a metaphorical placeholder for the surging hormonal attraction, trepidation and uncertainty of love's bloom.
03/27/09
The story turns flips to keep audiences guessing. Unfortunately, indiffer-ence, not fascination, results.
03/27/09
Duplicity is a lazy movie about corporate espionage. It's lazy because its director/writer Tony Gilroy relies on easy gimmicks and lame conventions to tell his tale. [He] uses techniques that might enliven home movies; they deaden a theatrical one.
03/26/09
This thriller's flashback scenes interrupted the story's flow too much for me. But Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are fun to watch.
03/26/09
It's a complex and at times hard-to-follow script, but it leaves no loose ends and makes perfect sense in the end. Even the ending is a legitimate surprise
03/25/09
While this is fun, trying more for laughs than tension, it is not a film that will live in history, except for one memorable line.
03/25/09
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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