Roberts and Owen spy mediocrity in Duplicity

By Jackie Ammons     4/9/09 7:00pm

Clive Owen and Julia Roberts acting in a movie together should be a double dose of fun and adventure. Roberts should be able to pull off starring in an action film, as she is a fabulous actress. Great filming locations such as Rome, New York City and the Bahamas should give a film an exciting sense of place. The collection of these factors should produce a great Hollywood film.But it doesn't always do so, at least in the case of the newly released action-adventure movie Duplicity.

In Duplicity, Claire Stenwick (Charlie Wilson's War's Roberts) and Ray Koval (The International's Owen) are double agents teamed up to undermine the intelligence operations of two manufacturing companies run by paranoid CEO's (Cold Soul's Paul Giamatti and Valkyrie's Tom Wilkinson). Through a series of flashbacks, the audience learns that not only are Claire and Ray double agents, but they are double-double agents, if you will, acting in their own self interests by using comically innocent bystanders, such as the down-home Southerner Barbara Bofferd (Doubt's Carrie Preston) and their plotting supervisor Duke Monahan (Changeling's Denis O'Hare).

This film has all of the makings of an excellent movie. It features high-class talent and contains what could be an interesting story line. However, each of these elements somehow falls short of its potential and therefore ends up producing a disappointing movie.

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For starters, even though Roberts is a top-notch actress, it may be time for her to retire from leading roles in action films. She looks great for a 41-year-old woman, but Duplicity certainly had to ramp up her makeup and seductive outfits so as to make her more convincing as a younger, sexier spy. Again, Roberts is a marvelous actress in general, but her suitability for her role in this action film is a little contrived.

The next point at which Duplicity fails is its plotline, as its continuity is a bit rough. While it has a great story - two spies have a history, fall in love and then create this grand scheme to rip off their agency employers - Duplicity only reveals the full plotline through brief flashbacks that are scattered throughout the film, thereby leaving the audience confused as to what is actually happening in the movie.

Fortunately, these flashbacks occur in the most beautiful filming locations. The film features the steps of the Pantheon in Rome, the beaches of Paradise Island in the Bahamas and the busy streets of New York City. Such locations are satisfying imagery to the eyes, but Duplicity fails to take full advantage of these locations, as most of the scenes are filmed on the sets of industrial office spaces and only brief snippets of the flashbacks occur in the interesting locales. Thus, the main action, what should be the most exciting part of the film, confines itself to boring places that could substantially benefit from the beaches of the Bahamas or the streets of Rome.

Duplicity is good, but not great. It has all of the right elements that an entertaining, quality film should have, but it does not succeed in using these positive elements to their full potential. Because the audience can see the potential of Duplicity, they want to like it, but they will simply end up being disappointed by the film's end.

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