Customer Reviews

The Hoax

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Director Lasse Hallstrom's dedicated re-enactment of Clifford Irving's memoirs of his fraudulent autobiography of mysterious, antisocial millionaire Howard Hughes, "The Hoax", is his most impressive work since the 2000 film "Chocolat". Using film footage of the Hughes and also President Nixon and the tumultuous times of the 70's, he creates a sometimes comedic look back at this memorable scandal.

Richard Gere does well in his portrayal of struggling author Irving, a man obviously devoid of a conscience, who conjures up the idea of faking a Hughes autobiography. He figures that the reclusive Hughes would never surface to dispute the veracity of Irving's well researched but fictitious novel. Alfred Molina playing Gere's neurotic sidekick and co-conspirator Dick Susskind is magnificent in his role, giving the movie a comic flair. Marcia Gay Harden with dyed blonde tresses and a disturbing foreign accent was annoying as Irving's wife Edith.

Hallstrom did well in demostrating the extent of Irving's delusions, actually believing himself to be in contact with Hughes and his minions. 91 year old Eli Wallach, always a treat to see on the screen, was delightful playing old codger Noah Dietrich, once a right hand man of Hughes. The movie was insightful in tying in the effect of Irving's hoax, the machinations of Hughes himself who actually communicated disavowing Irving's chicanery and important current events and the day.

A struggling writer discovers that Hughes cannot appear in court to dispute a hoax because the reclusive billionaire is in a nasty dispute with TWA shareholders. So the hoax is born. Soon though, events turn raucous when the billionaire fails to appear to allegedly vouch for the autobiography, and then another hoaxed autobiography appears in print ahead of Irving's release. The mystery of who is hoaxing who surfaces when a box of scandalous files anonymously appears at the writer's home. The frenzied sensation draws the attention of darker forces in America. Apparently, someone has to know what would be included about Hughes and Nixon's brother, Donald, who had received unrepaid loans from Hughes in the 1960 campaign, and may have received more loans in 1972. Then suddenly the hoax unravels. Within within months, Nixon is re-elected, the Hughes-TWA dispute resolves, and Americans begin to learn of a third-rate burglarly called Watergate. The Hoax is an interesting chapter in American history.

Despite the fact that I'm not exactly a Richard Gere fan, I went into "The Hoax" with high expectations. After all, I consider director Lasse Hallstrom - feelgood/schmaltzy though he may sometimes be ("Once Around", "The Cider House Rules") - to be one of the more consistently reliable filmmakers of the last twenty years (he's directed several of my all-time favorite films, including "My Life As A Dog", "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "Chocolat"). And from what little I knew of the intriguing real-life story upon which this movie is based, I figured it would be a good to very good film as long as the filmmakers didn't mess it up (and Richard Gere didn't ham it up).

Thankfully, I was wrong. It actually turned out to be a great film, and not only did the filmmakers not mess it up, they elevated the material beyond what my already-high expectations were going in. From the taut and smart script (which in my opinion is worthy of an Adapted Screenplay Oscar Nomination) to the inventive cinematography, from the (as always) imaginative direction to a surprisingly non-showboaty performance from Richard Gere (not to mention scene-stealing performances by actors in supporting roles), "The Hoax" is right up there with the best films I've seen all year.

For those of you not in the know, the story centers around (and is based on a book by) Clifford Irving, who - as we meet him in the movie - had already (quite aptly, it turns out) written the book Fake, with forgery as its subject (and you can see the real Clifford Irving in Orson Welles' classic 1974 film "F for Fake"). Now he's received verbal agreement that his publishing house, McGraw Hill, will be putting out his second book, the unfortunately named Rudnick's Problem. So he spends his advance in advance (of actually having one), even as people are repossessing his couch from previous debts owed. Then, in an ill-timed turn of events, Life Magazine - who was set to serialize the book - reads the manuscript and calls it a "third-rate Phillip Roth knock-off." Oops! Deal's off, Cliffy!

Desperate to not be ignored by his publisher, and desperate for cash and other non-perishables with which to feed his ego, Irving tells the people at McGraw-Hill that he's been commissioned to write the autobiography of infamous billionaire recluse, Howard Hughes (even though he hasn't - hoax alert!). He starts by forging letters whose handwriting is copied from a Howard Hughes profile in Life Magazine (which, if still around, would have had to pay a hell of a product placement fee for this movie).

Irving figures it's a perfect plan: "he'll never come out of hiding to denounce me because he's a lunatic hermit, and I'm the spokesman for the lunatic hermit!" This sets into motion a series of cat and mouse games as various factions try to smoke out Irving as a con artist and Irving (actually more of a rat than a mouse) ratchets up the stakes at every turn, figuring the bolder the lie, the more likely it is to be believed.

As played by Gere, Irving is a pompous, adulterous liar who's also a bit of a drama king. His wife (played with quirky delight by Marcia Gay Harden) seems to be aware of all this, dismissively telling him early in the film, "My gallery show is in 3 weeks - I don't have time for the drama now, darling." And later, she warns him to not spend time with any "special friends" as he's planning to go on a trip. That Gere plays this jerky gasbag in such a way that we not only care about him but root for him is no mean feat.

A scene-stealing Alfred Molina plays Dick Susskind, Irving's nervous nebbish reluctant co-conspirator, whom we meet as a 38 years old, unpublished author (whose wife has left him for a lesbian), trying to write a children's book featuring the dual kid-friendly themes of war and sodomy. (yes, this film has a sense of humor - there are many lines that are patently absurd and laugh out loud funny)

The picture keeps Nixon and 'Nam hovering in the background as an effective backdrop, with paranoia being the paradigm of the time and Irving himself getting so caught up in his web of deceit that he himself can barely distinguish fact from fantasy, reality from paranoid delusion. There is also a very interesting subplot involving a mysterious box that shows up on Irving's doorstep that may or may not tie Nixon and Watergate into the whole biography mess.

Not knowing too much about what really happened, to me this is the only part of the film that felt like its grasping for a bit more than it can truly hold. Intriguing, yes. Plausible? Not really. But I fully concede in advance that things might have actually played out that way in real life and that truth is indeed stranger than fiction (and that I'm an ignorant buffoon). And regardless of whether it's the way events actually happened or not, the screenplay is pure genius, with lots of quotable lines and crisp dialog.

In some early reviews, I've seen a lot of comparisons made to the journalistic con artist Stephen Glass played by Hayden Christensen in the film "Shattered Glass". But I feel this movie owes more in its tone of well-layered psychological suspense and intrigue to the great "Quiz Show" - with Ralph Fiennes' Charles Van Doren being caught up in a scam while the truth squad closes in. Both "Quiz Show" and "The Hoax" are so artfully told, so skillfully and stylishly shot, that each film transcends its subject matter without detracting from or diluting its substantial suspense.

As "The Hoax" has some (very) minor flaws, I'd like to give it 4.5 stars. But of course, the 'Zon won't let me... so five stars it is!

Clifford Irving (Fake, Trial, Final Argument, The Spring) became a sort of national hero when he contrived to publish 'The Autobiography of Howard Hughes', a 400 page phony but well researched book that, while it was never published, did cause enough of a stir among the New York publishing cognoscenti and those surrounding the then President Richard Nixon that it now is recognized as a HOAX of writing that triggered the final discovery of the Watergate Scandal and the subsequent dethroning of Nixon. Those facts alone make this sometimes rather tepid film interesting enough to sit through. Screenwriter William Wheeler has adapted Irving's book into a study of the 1970s and Lasse Hallström gives it just the right balance between soft crime and strange comedy to keep it afloat.

Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) is down on his literary luck, searching for the right kind of story that will set is publisher Andrea Tate (Hope Davis) on fire. Irving wife Edith (Marcia Gay Harden) is an active painter and doesn't give Irving the support he gets from his pal Dick Suskind (Alfred Molina), but on the messy floor of Edith's studio is a rag magazine with a cover picture of the mysterious Howard Hughes and bingo! up comes the idea for an 'autobiography' of the wizard as confided to Irving and researched by Suskind. That is really the plot then, how these two men squirm around lies and good luck to forge papers and gain the favor of the publishers. Of course it all caves in, but in the publicity about the book Nixon's secrets are revealed and the rest is history.

Gere, Molina, Harden, Davis, Stanley Tucci, Julie Delphy and Eli Wallach add immeasurably to the success of the film. No, it is not a heavy story, but the scandalous years of the 1970s are treated realistically and provide a lot of memories, both good and bad, about how we all changed in that post Vietnam time. Worth watching for that! Grady Harp, October 07

Since anyone of A Certain Age remembers how this story turns out, I was expecting more of a documentary than a thriller. But the film does a great job of pacing, and literally races towards the unraveling of Clifford Irving's web of deception.

Richard Gere is excellent, with a smarmy self-confidence that almost explains how so many supposedly intelligent people could have fallen for what would seem to be a patently obvious hoax.

A character in the film "The Princess Bride" utters one of my favorite quotes: "Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." Alas-if we would only remember that sage advice before writing our phone number on a napkin, signing on a dotted line, dropping coins into a collection plate or punching out a voting chad.

Hollywood loves con artists, probably because movie audiences never appear to tire of watching yet one more poor sucker being bamboozled and swindled. It makes us feel superior-"I'd never fall for THAT!" (Er-right.)

Director Lasse Hallstrom has delivered a smashing entry in the genre with his new movie, "The Hoax". The film is based on the story of Clifford Irving, a struggling writer who toiled in relative obscurity until he stumbled onto an idea for "the most important book of the 20th century"-the "Autobiography of Howard Hughes". The book was the most hyped literary event of 1972, and would assure Irving the notoriety he craved. Heck, he even made the cover of Time. Unfortunately, his Time portrait was slugged with "Con Man of the Year", because as it turned out, the "autobiography" was a bit of a surprise to Mr. Hughes, because, you see, Mr. Irving made the whole thing up (oops). The books were unceremoniously yanked from the shelves soon after their debut.

Richard Gere tears through the lead role with an intensity we haven't
seen from him in quite a while. His Clifford Irving is a charlatan and a compulsive liar, to be sure, but Gere makes him sympathetic in a carefully measured portrayal and never stoops to audience pandering. Even as he digs himself into an ever deepening hole, and you cover your eyes because you know the other shoe is going to drop at any time, you've just gotta love this guy's pure chutzpah. In retrospect, when compared to some other mass public deceptions that were brewing at the time (the Irving scandal was soon to be eclipsed in the headlines by Watergate), Irving's fraud trial almost seems like malicious prosecution.

Hallstrom does an excellent job at capturing the 70's milieu; especially the insidious paranoia of the Nixon era.

The cast includes Alfred Molina (in a great turn as Irving's researcher), Marcia Gay Harden (sporting a Streep-worthy accent as Irving's Eurotrash wife), and true chameleon Hope Davis (looking very Mary Richards as Irving's agent). Also with Stanley Tucci, Julie Delpy and a memorable cameo from Eli Wallach.

Just watched this movie and I must say that I enjoyed every minute of it. I had heard about it but couldn't get a real idea by the trailer if I would like it or not. I thought it was a great story and very funny. The acting and casting was also superb. I have heard some critics say that there was a lot of 'playing with the facts' but since I didn't know the facts I took it for what it was to me... entertainment.

I recommend it to everyone.

Richard Gere turns in an amazing performance as Clifford Irving in "The Hoax." Irving wrote a notorious "authorized" biography of the reclusive Howard Hughes in the 1970's which was a complete fabrication. He fooled McGraw-Hill, Life magazine, handwriting experts and journalists who had known Hughes before he cut himself off from the world totally. As the story unfolds, Irving turns into Hughes himself, adopting the looks and voice of Hughes as he had been in public many years before. The house of cards collapses in the end, of course, and the movie suggests a twist to the story that may or not be factual, but I'll say no more.

At Gere's first appearance on the screen, I almost didn't recognize him. He's a little old and down on his luck, and it's amazing how the reddish brown curly hair he's been given changes his look entirely. None of the "Pretty Woman" star here. It seems as if he only comes alive when he's lying--to his wife, his best friend, the publishers and lawyers, himself. It's sad, and a great performance.

"The Hoax," a 2006 comedy drama starring Richard Gere, is set in the Watergate era - think corruption, underhanded dealings and dirty tricks, if you weren't there, during what eventually proved to be American President Richard Milhous Nixon's final days. It tells one of the more interesting tales of the era: the efforts of Clifford Irving, a sinking mid-list novelist, to convince his publishers McGraw-Hill, a major firm, that he had established a relationship with legendary billionaire recluse Howard Hughes, and that the eccentric Hughes was cooperating with the author to write the famous moviemaker/aviation pioneer's biography. It must have been something in the water, because mighty, corporate McGraw-Hill wilfully believed Irving for quite some time.

The movie is based on Irving's own remembrance of his attempted sting, as rewritten for the screen by William Wheeler. It was cleanly directed by Lasse Hallstrom. The 1970s setting is pretty good - clothes, cars and soundtrack. Gere, in a prosthetic nose, can be said to carry the movie: he's in almost every scene. Nobody, not even Gere, can play romantic leads forever, but that offhand, arrogant charm he had as a handsome playboy seems to work here too. He receives able support from Alfred Molina, playing his fellow author/best friend Dick Suskind, who also gets caught up, much to his regret, in the scheme. And, by the by, what a career Molina has had, first coming to public attention as Kenneth Halliwell, murderous gay lover of noted British playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) in 1989's "Prick Up Your Ears." Hope Davis plays Andrea Tate, Irving's agent. Marcia Gay Harden plays Irving's Swiss wife, Edith, and gets to trot out her inner housewife. Stanley Tucci plays Shelton Fish, publisher who signed off on a real bad deal. Eli Wallach plays Hughes' henchman, Noah Dietrich. Julie Delpy plays Swedish folk singer Nina Van Pallandt; of the minor nobility, she was Irving's mistress at the time, and apparently, she got to hang out at the swankier New York hotels. Zelko Ivanek and Ralph Graves have smaller parts; Larry David puts in a cameo.

The film labors to explicitly tie itself to the larger picture, and to suggest some kind of secret dealings between Hughes and Nixon, but it isn't very convincing. Guess you had to be there.

There is a core belief system in people like me that is greatly offended by industries that are supposed to noble and artistic, such as publishing, that turn into soulless money making machines. These are industries, we believe, where quality and passion should trump schlock such as "The Secret." So when I sat down to watch "The Hoax", a film in which an aspiring author takes the capitalistic publishing world for a ride, I was firmly in the corner of the deceitful one. For it is a beautiful thing to watch as Clifford Irving (Richard Gere, fugitive from the law) recognizes these people for what they really are (stuffed suits whose sole purpose is to sniff around manuscripts looking for commercialism), and then use their lust for cash against them. Obviously he is not out there making a point or taking a stand, he is there to cash in and get famous, but no matter. Greed begets greed, so if McGraw/Hill needs somebody to blame for the creation of Irving then they need look no further than the mirror.

Director Lasse Hallstrom finally turns out a winner here after leaving two sloppy messes all over the 2005 Oscar season ("Unfinished Life" and "Casanova"). Far breezier than his usual stiff exercises, "The Hoax" tells one of those amazing stories that we only believe because we know that it actually happened. Feeling mad with anger after having his fictional work rejected Irving comes up with the perfect concept for a best seller, a wholly different kind of fiction. He will make up interviews between himself and famous recluse Howard Hughes, and then sell it as a sort of autobiography. McGraw/Hill, eye on the box office, bites and the game is on. Irving pulled off some truly amazing stunts that led me to believe that him pulling this ruse off for so long was nothing short of a miracle. He is dishonest to the core, but the ways in which he fools the world are simply artful. But as time ticks by Irving learns that cheating on his wife is one thing, faking his way into a fortune another, and impeaching the President a whole different Solar System. Since the Hollywood Code says so Irving is brought down in the end, and yes I know that is how it really happened, just to say that films about real life renegades who get away with murder are few and far between. Money got the best of him and no matter how you cut it depositing Hughes' checks into a Swiss bank account was not a smooth move.

The acting is also quite impressive here, especially from the two main stars. Gere plays Irving as Gere only minus Father Time, and still manages to navigate his way through this challenging role. Alfred Molina is also very believable as his sidekick who loyally helps him through his stickiest moments despite remaining a doormat throughout. In the end I had no ill will towards Irving. If he wants to make his fame and fortune on the back of Howard Hughes why would I care? Hughes had more than enough of both and didn't seem too enamored with either. Furthermore, late in the film when another character decides to launch her career off of Irving's back, and subsequently sink his ship, I didn't feel bad for him either. [..]