Duplicity doesn't have depth -- but it does have Julia Roberts, in full Hollywood movie-star mode. And for filmgoers with scaled-back expectations, that news may be enough.
Comment
03/18/09
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
141 - 160 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
This is a sharp-looking movie with a blue-chip cast.
03/18/09
It's not an elderly movie, it just seems that way.
03/18/09
Roberts looks great in her return to leading-lady status after a few years off -- strong, curvy, formidable -- and Owen drops the steamy glower he's adopted of late and almost seems to have a twinkle in his eye this time around.
03/18/09
Duplicity should have been titled Venality.
03/18/09
Neither a conventional spy flick nor a traditional romantic comedy, Duplicity is a satisfying mix of the two that's as entertaining as it is thought-provoking
03/18/09
Duplicity does indeed bend and buckle under the weight of many a final-reel revelation, though it never entirely collapses.
03/18/09
Director Tony Gilroy deftly mixes comedy with suspense as we see the extreme measures corporations take to steal one another's secrets and protect their own from theft.
03/18/09
Slick, super-contrived, pretty to look at and totally, completely preposterous.
03/18/09
It eventually falls victim to one or two twists too many, needlessly complicating an already complex plot.
03/18/09
A fluffy, comedic sequel to CLOSER... breezy, delightful and bitterly hilarious.
03/18/09
Mr. Gilroy has outsmarted himself by pulling too many switches in his narrative. He then fails to recover by coming up with a smash ending that pulls all the scattered pieces together.
03/18/09
Though it has more tricks up its sleeve than you can count, in the end all the sleight of hand amounts to disappointingly little.
03/18/09
Unnecessarily pretentious and opaque: give me Tony Gilroy's 'Michael Clayton' any day.
03/17/09
Given the film's potential for glamour, sex and suspense, there's no reason for it to be such a drag.
03/17/09
They took the lousy Soderbergh/Clooney template for Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen and intentionally made this stinker.
03/17/09
A glamorous, diverting escapade that over-30s in particular can enjoy.
03/17/09
Top CriticThe movie is fun, with plenty of intrigue and suspense that will have audiences clutching at their arm rests.
03/16/09
In top, sexy form, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen may become the Hepburn and Tracy of their generation after this witty, elegant romantic thriller made for mature audiences, which is far more entertaining and stylish than Gilroy's debut Michael Clayton.
03/16/09
"Duplicity" is so heavily back-loaded that it demands the audience take a leap of faith that all narrative debts will be paid off in a third act finale. No such luck.
03/16/09
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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