Life is about choices. Unfortunately it's not all as easy as picking good and bad. Alas, to live on this planet, sometimes you have to choose between certainly-bad and probably-bad. This was the position I found myself in last week when I could review yet another Nicholas-Cage-freaks-out-because-he-can-see-the-end-of-the-world film (seriously how many of those bloody movies he allowed to make?) or I could review a Julia (shudder) Roberts, Clive Owen spy comedy.
For better or (it turned out definitely) worse, I chose Duplicity. The film opened quite optimistically when the credits rolled with a fantastic middle-aged, fat-guy, slow-motion fight. Sadly that raised the bar and from that moment forward it sunk.
The plot revolves around two government spies who hook up for a "big score." Flashback after flashback lets us know their history of screwing each other over. Now they are trying to swindle two huge arch rival cosmetic companies run by the delightful Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson.
The spy portion of this film wasn't completely horrible. The only times this film truly stinks is when Julia and Clive are talking to each other. There is nothing wrong with romance, but you need chemistry, and these two people do not have it. So instead the hackneyed conversation leads to torturous periods of wanting the film to end quickly and violently.
Instead, it drags for half hour longer than it needs to and the anti-climatic ending is hardly worth sticking around for.
Slumdog Millionaire or the Watchmen - far better choices.
