Customer Reviews

Duplicity

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

The one thing I regret about this film is that I didn't get the opportunity to see it in a theater. I'm truly puzzled by the negative reviews on Amazon.

This isn't a film to watch while you're doing something else; fixing dinner, checking your emails, etc. The screenplay was brilliant and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I never lost interest, not for one moment. Clive and Julia have terrific chemistry and I loved the dialogue.

This film plays to an intelligent audience and it keeps you on your toes. I've watched so many films where the ending is predictable. There was nothing predictable about "Duplicity". It may have you feeling that you've nailed it, only to turn around and pull the rug out from under your feet.

I'm very selective about the films I actually choose to purchase. When I finished watching this last night, I knew I had to have my own copy and I want one with all of the bells and whistles, including interviews with the Director, Producer, actors, etc. I'm watching it again tonight and that's a rave for me!

I love Clive Owen and he has some really memorable lines. It's great to see Julia Roberts back in full force. She's as stunning as ever and plays this role with great finesse.

If you want an action paced thriller (ho hum), this isn't your movie. No graphic sex scenes either but lots of great sexual chemistry. I hope to see Clive & Julia team up again soon.

The entire cast is brilliant! Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson fit their roles like a pair of old shoes. I don't know how anyone could find this film boring. I found it suspenseful and I was on the edge of my seat more than once. There is nothing predictable about this film. It has elements of "Sting", one of my favorite films of all time. Duplicity is absolutely one of my favorite films of '09!

I found this film very confusing. I realize it is an elaborate spy vs. spy in a corporate espionage matter. One spy is Julia Roberts and the other is Clive Owen. At first it seems like she is the one with the upper hand as she rolls him after one wild night. Then the scene shifts and he has gotten one over on her. They leap in and out of bed at various points because they are wildly attracted to one another.

It didn't work for me. If sparks were jumping between these two, if love and lust were in the air between them, I couldn't sense it. So there were two things we were supposed to care about: would Julia and Clive get together and, secondly, which of their clients would win in the spy war? More than an hour into this film, I realized I did not care about the resolution of either issue. I stopped watching it, I was that bored.

I am not a huge fan of Julia Roberts although I think she is talented. She just rarely does it for me as a romantic interest. Conversely, I LOVE Clive Owen and it is very rare for me to be bored with him. I also really liked CLOSER which also featured Owen and Roberts. They didn't need wild attraction to one another in that film though.

Much to my surprise, the NEW YORK TIMES absolutely loved this movie. Its review found this movie a stunning pairing of Roberts and Owen plus the spy scenario vastly entertaining. Its review says, "It's a caper movie, a love story -- with Clive Owen and Julia Roberts, no less -- an extra-dry corporate satire. However you describe it, 'Duplicity' is superior entertainment, the most elegantly pleasurable movie of its kind to come around in a very long time." I was shocked to read this. I read the whole review and it's as if we were seeing two different movies! So go over and read that review if you are still interested in this film.

I have to admit going into this movie I expected a lot of action, chase scenes and flying bullets. What else was I to expect from the man who wrote the screenplay for the three Bourne movies. Plus, Tony Gilroy's directing debut Michael Clayton also led me to believe I'd be seeing something very different up there on the big screen.

This is kind of a spy movie, with an ingenious plot to be sure, but it's a romantic comedy as well. I'm used to seeing Julia Roberts in these kinds of roles, but I'm used to seeing her in action movies too. Not much action in this film. No Jason Bourne character here. In fact the only real action in this movie is the slow motion fight between two oldster corporate execs played by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson. These two guys hate each other, head mega corporations, are arch rivals and will stop at nothing to sink the other guy's company.

And that's where the Julia Robert's character and the Clive Owen character come it. They're ex-spies (the real deal, CIA her, MI6 him) who are in the business of corporate espionage and who seem to be on again and off again romantically. She's undercover in one firm and he's running her for the other, but they're really in business for themselves, looking for the big score and before you're thinking shades of Ocean's Eleven I have to say this is a deliciously good movie. Not anything like I expected, but wonderful nonetheless.

Julia Roberts just keeps getting better, way more than just a pretty face. The chemistry sparks between her and Clive Owen, so much so that you can feel the heat, even when you're not supposed to.

As for the story, I was confused at first, but after I bit I realized Mr. Gilroy was confusing me on purpose and he did a fine job of it, leading right where he wanted me to go. And he really surprised me with the ending, not what I expected at all. A perfect cap to this fine film where you never really know who is playing who.

Duplicity is the latest movie written and directed by Tony Gilroy (I loved Michael Clayton). I will tell you only the barest of details because if ever there is a movie you should nothing about it is this one: Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are spies. This film is a sexy, suspenseful, funny and smart spy caper. I loved it throughout, and I loved it even more when it finished. Go watch it now.

This film - to judge both by the reviews here and by the hubbub over A O Scott's very positive Times review - clearly polarises viewers. I thought it fantastic, with far deeper and more controlled performances by both leads than I've seen previously, together with a solid supporting cast, great locations and a seriously clever script, but for others, evidently, its lack of slickness, predictability and cardboard cutout indications of who's bad, who's good, who's with (or not with) whom has clearly struck a nerve.

It's a good, complicated, and pretty cleverly structured film with stylish but credible performances to match. If you can cope with the notion of a spy thriller that doesn't have a car chase or an explosion and/or a romantic film that doesn't end in a big white wedding - which is, evidently, too much to ask of many reviewers here and elsewhere - grab with both hands.

Having just finished watching this movie I was suprised to see that it got such low ratings on Amazon. I completely disagree with the majority of reviews - I found Duplicity fascinating from start to finish. Yes, you have to think to get a grasp of the storyline and I find that a good thing. Most movies these days are so utterly boring and mindless, but unfortunately that seems to be what the majority prefers... If you like a challenge for a change, you will enjoy Duplicity!

A bit like a less energetic "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", but with a high-falootin' chronology and a proposed glossiness that does not really deliver, "Duplicity" still manages to be an entertaining enough mishmash of corporate espionage, intrigue, and office-to-bedroom politics. It's not going to win any awards but is, as a lot of movies are, a pleasant exercise in visual storytelling, with attractive leads and just enough plot to keep you interested.

The plot is less than it seems at first glance: Roberts and Owen play corporate spies, who, having shared a turbulent romantic past, find themselves working the same job in the present. Enter a forgettable supporting cast of "Hey! I know him from somewhere" C-listers, a satisfyingly megalomaniac turn from Paul Giamatti as an exclusives-obsessed CEO, and fairly trite direction by The Bourne Trilogy's Tony Gilroy, and you'd be forgiven for thinking this isn't a very good movie.

It's not bad, though, and you have the combined talents of Roberts and Owen (and Giamatti) to thank for that: there's plenty of Star Quality and some mild comic relief going on to keep your interest, and while this is no James Bond (the twists and turns are too predictable for that), "Duplicity" isn't a bad lot/

Don't expect a lot from this one, and certainly don't bother spending money on buying it - rental is plenty. It could have been better, but that could be said of all films. There's tons of missed opportunity in "Duplicity": Kathleen Chalfant and Tom Wilkinson are definitely able to deliver more than the screenplay allows them, ditto the plot - cutting up the timeline to mask a fairly bog standard storyline never works, and here it's more noticable than in most films.

With this in mind, after the final reel has rolled, you could be forgiven for thinking "... ...huh.", but, while you're in the middle of it, the likeable hijinks and competent performances by the three central characters will certainly keep you entertained.

Rent it, it's a Tuesday night movie.

I'm surprised at the dichotomy of views on this movie. I saw it in the theater, but I found it thoroughly engaging and appealing. I especially loved Clive Owen--Julia Roberts is not the strongest actress, in my opinion--but I thought they had good chemistry and that it was a great cat-and-mouse thriller with lots of twists and turns. It's a great escape!

I love Julia Roberts. I love Clive Owen. I hate this movie. I could only get through 50 minutes of the 125 minute film. It was just too painful because its so boring. The dialogue felt really forced between the characters. I didn't feel like I was watching real people. Everyone is so busy trying to be clever and "cool" with every line that the focus of the plot becomes terribly lost. This is the first time I watched a Julia Roberts film that I couldn't finish.

Clive Owen is the greatest thing to come along in the Leading Man Department since George Clooney, and, come to think of it, Duplicity is a movie that would very much like to recapture the spark of that classic Clooney vehicle Out of Sight. Julia Roberts, on the other hand, is no Jennifer Lopez. Roberts has aged into a technically competent but utterly uncharismatic actress, and she plays an essentially unattractive character here unattractively. It's a role that really needed some of that old Roberts sparkle, but most of the time, she just seems old. The ultimate selling-point for this movie, then, is Tony Gilroy's script. Gilroy wants us awfully to see how clever he is, but this tale of double-crossing double agents really just plays like an overlong episode of the old TV series Alias, but funnier. By the time Duplicity lurches to its rather logically fuzzy conclusion, the final twist isn't nearly as surprising as Gilroy thinks it is. As a director, meanwhile, Gilroy wants awfully to be Steven Soderbergh, even resorting to split-screen devices and non-chronological narrative elements. But he just doesn't have Soderbergh's frisson. Among the supporting players, Tom Wilkinson is utterly wasted, while Paul Giamatti (although a little bit hammy and more than a little too young for the role he's playing) continues to demonstrate why he's his generation's finest character actor. Movies come alive when his funny mug comes on screen.