Duplicity

Closer co-stars Julia Roberts and Clive Owen reunite for Oscar-nominated director Tony Gilroy's drama tracing the illicit love affair between two spies-turned-corporate operatives. The Cold War has thawed, and for CIA agents seeking to make an easy mint, the real money is in multinational ...more

Most of Duplicity alternates between being too clever by half and yet not terribly smart. What apparently was intended as a contemporary version of a Cary Grant-ish romantic caper rendered in slickly superficial Ocean's 11-12-13 tones is neither sophisticated nor stylish enough to succeed. Clive Owen's role as the suave but easily outfoxed industrial spy Ray Koval seems to have been written for George Clooney, who starred in Duplicity writer/director Tony Gilroy's 2007 film Michael ...more

If you know your con-game movies, then you're familiar with the differences between short cons and long cons. The short con is all about making a quick buck -- like getting a bartender to give you change for a 20, when you really paid with a 10. Long cons, on the other hand, require months, if not years, of setup, and come with a payoff to match. They also make for timeless movies like The Sting, The Grifters, House of Games, and Tony Gilroy's Duplicity. Like those other time-tested con movies, ...more