Duplicity

Closer, the last pairing of Clive Owen and Julia Roberts (Oscar or no, that is the order in which they will be announced) left me feeling like I'd been punched in the gut -- in a good way. The big-screen adaptation of Patrick Marber's play was brutal and biting, a fine follow-up to director Mike Nichol's own Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Duplicity is another thing entirely, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. As in Closer, there's plenty of distrust, but here it's all in the name of fun, rather than sheer cruelty.

Like Shoot 'Em Up, Duplicity allows audiences to see what might have been if Owen had been chosen for the role of Bond that eventually (and rightly) went to Daniel Craig. Here, his Ray Koval is a suave ex-spy who is using his vast knowledge and connections to "earn" millions of dollars. He partners with another former agent, Claire Stenwick (Roberts), and they try to steal the formula for a revolutionary product out from under the turned-up noses of two rival CEOs (perfectly played by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti). Ray and Claire's professional relationship is clouded by their steam-driven personal one, and neither one is sure if he--or she--can trust the other. Out of this lack of trust is born a marvelously mazelike script that leaves the audience wondering who they can trust: Ray, Claire, or filmmaker Tony Gilroy.

Gilroy wrote the scripts for the Jason Bourne films, and he made his directorial debut with 2007's excellent Michael Clayton. None of that work seems to point to the relatively light (but still smart) screenplay for Duplicity. With Michael Clayton, he may have been channeling a '70s director like Sidney Lumet, but this latest offering seems far more in line with Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 or Out of Sight. Like those films, Duplicity is a twist-filled trip that is fun without being entirely frivolous.