Love Is Bad for Business

Read Time:10 Minute, 40 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Duplicity
–

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Romance, Thriller
Year: 2009, 2026 4K
Runtime: 2h 5m
Director: Tony Gilroy
Writer: Tony Gilroy
Cast: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti, Denis O'Hare, Tom McCarthy, Kathleen Chalfant, Carrie Preston, Dan Daily
Where to Watch: available now; order your copy here: www.kinolorber.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: Trust is complicated enough in an ordinary relationship, but falling in love with someone professionally trained to lie to you sounds like a spectacular way to create serious relationship problems. Writer-director Tony Gilroy takes that idea and runs with it in DUPLICITY, his 2009 romantic espionage comedy starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen as former intelligence operatives attempting to outsmart two competing corporations while navigating their own increasingly questionable relationship. It's a stylish production with an impressive cast, plenty of entertaining dialogue, and enough double-crossing to make you suspicious of practically everything happening on screen. Unfortunately, Gilroy becomes so invested in constructing an elaborate game of deception that the experience occasionally feels more exhausting than entertaining.

Roberts plays Claire Stenwick, a former CIA operative whose romantic history with Ray Koval (Clive Owen), an ex-MI6 agent, gets complicated when their professional interests intersect. Both have moved into corporate intelligence, working on opposing sides of a bitter rivalry between two enormously successful companies. Their employers are desperate to gain an advantage, making stolen information, industrial espionage, and carefully orchestrated deception just part of doing business.

Claire and Ray recognize the potential to exploit that rivalry for their own financial benefit. Of course, working together requires a degree of confidence neither seems comfortable extending to the other. They're romantically involved, professionally dishonest, and constantly attempting to determine whether the person sharing their bed is also preparing to stab them in the back. At least most couples only have to worry about somebody forgetting their anniversary.

The relationship between Roberts and Owen is easily the film's strongest asset. Having previously appeared together in CLOSER, the two performers already have experience navigating characters whose romantic lives are complicated by deception and questionable behavior. Their dynamic here is more playful, with Claire and Ray treating nearly every conversation as a chance to gain an advantage. Even their affectionate exchanges carry an undercurrent of suspicion, making sincerity increasingly hard to identify.

Owen is particularly comfortable playing characters whose charm conceals less admirable intentions. Ray has the confidence of someone accustomed to manipulating difficult situations, though that confidence becomes far less reliable whenever Claire is involved. Roberts provides an equally capable counterpart, giving Claire enough personality to make their exchanges entertaining even when the screenplay seems determined to complicate their circumstances.

Their chemistry also provides a welcome contrast to the more elaborate corporate material. Watching two people who clearly understand one another try to figure out whether they're being manipulated is often more engaging than following the latest developments in their employers' industrial rivalry. The professional stakes provide the structure, but the personal conflict is where the film develops its most enjoyable personality.

Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson contribute another entertaining relationship as Richard Garsik and Howard Tully, the rival corporate executives whose hostility creates opportunities for Claire and Ray's elaborate scheme. They are absurdly competitive, treating the corporate world like a personal battlefield where humiliating an opponent can become as important as achieving a real business objective. Both actors embrace that ridiculousness, providing a pair of powerful men whose professional success hasn't necessarily translated into emotional maturity.

The film's opening confrontation between the executives introduces that rivalry. Gilroy presents their hostility through an exaggerated sequence that establishes the absurdity of two wealthy businessmen behaving like spoiled children. Giamatti and Wilkinson clearly have fun with their characters, and their involvement gives the corporate side of the story much-needed personality. Their enormous resources might let them operate on a much grander scale than ordinary people, but their behavior isn't necessarily any more sophisticated.

DUPLICITY followed Gilroy's acclaimed directorial debut MICHAEL CLAYTON, and his interest in corporate power, professional corruption, and morally compromised individuals continues here. The approach differs considerably. Rather than another serious examination of institutional wrongdoing, he develops a romantic caper in which almost everyone has an ulterior motive. Corporate espionage becomes an extension of the same dishonesty that complicates Claire and Ray's relationship, creating an entertaining parallel between their professional and personal lives.

The screenplay's biggest weakness is its determination to stay several steps ahead of the audience. Gilroy frequently moves backward and forward through the narrative, gradually revealing information that changes our understanding of previously established circumstances. That approach works for a story about professional deception, and some revelations are entertaining. The continual timeline changes eventually become cumbersome, forcing audiences to spend considerable energy tracking information that isn't always as interesting as the film suggests.

A complicated screenplay isn't automatically intelligent, just as a straightforward story isn't necessarily unsophisticated. DUPLICITY occasionally confuses the pleasure of discovering new information with the experience of unnecessarily rearranging existing information. By the time another revelation arrives, you're tempted to stop worrying about who's manipulating whom and simply accept that Gilroy will explain everything whenever he feels like it.

That's frustrating because the production has enough personality to succeed without constantly demonstrating how cleverly constructed its narrative can become. The relationships are entertaining, the corporate rivalry has considerable comedic potential, and Roberts and Owen can carry a stylish espionage romance. The screenplay's elaborate structure sometimes keeps those strengths from developing as naturally as they might otherwise.

Robert Elswit's cinematography gives the production an attractive visual identity, making effective use of its international locations and polished corporate environments. The characters move through a world of expensive accommodations, professional appearances, and environments designed to signal financial success. Those surroundings heighten the story's fascination with wealth, especially as the central characters aim to secure enough money to escape the professional dishonesty they've spent years practicing.

James Newton Howard's score complements the film's playful espionage atmosphere, helping maintain an appropriate distinction between its romantic and professional concerns. Gilroy clearly aims to capture some of the appeal of older Hollywood capers, where attractive stars trade sharp dialogue while navigating increasingly complicated criminal arrangements. At times, that influence works wonderfully, though the material doesn't consistently deliver the effortless entertainment its presentation suggests.

Denis O'Hare, Tom McCarthy, Kathleen Chalfant, and Carrie Preston contribute to the supporting ensemble, helping populate the increasingly elaborate corporate environment. These characters exist in a professional culture where gathering information, withholding it, and determining who has the greatest advantage are everyday concerns. The surrounding cast adds credibility to that world, even when the screenplay occasionally focuses so tightly on Claire and Ray that everyone else feels like another component in their complicated arrangement.

The film's treatment of romance is arguably its most interesting quality. Claire and Ray understand the mechanics of deception better than almost anyone, but their professional experience becomes an obstacle whenever they try to build something resembling a genuine relationship. They're attracted to one another, enjoy the challenge each represents, and seem perfectly capable of recognizing their shared ambitions. Unfortunately, recognizing someone as your equal doesn't automatically make it any easier to trust them.

An amusing contradiction emerges in two people who want to escape a life built on dishonesty but can't stop applying those same professional instincts to their relationship. Even when they're discussing a future together, their conversations carry the possibility that one person is gathering information or withholding something important. It's a clever concept, and the film works best when Gilroy lets that contradiction drive the humor rather than relying on another elaborate revelation.

The broader corporate satire also remains relevant. Garsik and Tully's willingness to devote extraordinary resources to defeating one another makes their businesses appear less like organizations serving any meaningful public interest and more like expensive extensions of their personal egos. The employees working beneath them become participants in a ridiculous contest where loyalty is expected but rarely reciprocated. Claire and Ray might be dishonest, but the supposedly legitimate institutions that employ them offer no inspiring alternative.

Despite those entertaining elements, the film's two-hour-plus runtime starts to feel unnecessary as its competing narrative threads pile up. The constant repositioning of information makes the experience more demanding than its relatively playful premise warrants. I don't mind paying attention to a movie. There's a difference between being challenged by an interesting mystery and being repeatedly asked to reconsider circumstances that could have been communicated more effectively.

Kino Lorber's release provides an appealing opportunity to revisit Gilroy's second directorial feature. The new two-disc 4K UHD edition features an HDR/Dolby Vision master sourced from a fresh 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, with the presentation approved by Gilroy himself. That's an encouraging level of involvement, especially for a film whose polished cinematography and varied international settings are central to its identity.

The UHD presentation is housed on a triple-layered UHD100 disc and includes 5.1 surround audio alongside optional English subtitles. A second Blu-ray features a new HD master derived from the same director-approved 4K scan, giving collectors both formats in one package. These specifications make the restoration an attractive proposition, though the technical improvements should be distinguished from any claim that the film itself has somehow improved with age.

The supplemental material includes an audio commentary featuring Tony Gilroy and editor/co-producer John Gilroy, available on both discs. Their participation is particularly appropriate for a production whose unconventional construction is such a defining characteristic. Hearing directly from the filmmaker and editor lets you examine the creative thinking behind its complicated storytelling decisions, whether or not those decisions ultimately work for every viewer.

The Blu-ray also includes CRIMINAL DEFENSE, an interview with supporting actor Dan Daily, alongside the theatrical trailer. It's a relatively modest collection of additional material, but the new director-approved master and filmmaker commentary give the release worthwhile appeal beyond simply making another catalog title available in 4K.

DUPLICITY is an entertaining but unnecessarily complicated romantic caper that benefits enormously from its cast. Roberts and Owen have the chemistry to make their characters' constant suspicion amusing. At the same time, Wilkinson and Giamatti provide some of the film's funniest moments as two corporate executives whose professional rivalry has become a spectacularly expensive personal dispute. Gilroy has assembled an appealing collection of ingredients, even if his determination to construct an elaborate narrative occasionally interferes with the enjoyment.

I appreciate the film's intelligence, its playful attitude toward corporate dishonesty, and its willingness to treat romance as another complicated negotiation between two people who know exactly how to manipulate one another. I just wish Gilroy had occasionally trusted his characters to carry the entertainment without making audiences work quite so hard to follow their professional arrangements.

After all, Claire and Ray spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to determine whether they can trust one another. By the end, I was facing a similar dilemma with Tony Gilroy. I knew he had a plan, and I knew he was probably several steps ahead of me. I just wasn't always convinced I was having as much fun as he was.

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[photo courtesy of KINO LORBER]

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