For a director obsessed with unexpected plot twists, Tony Gilroy’s latest project feels awfully familiar. Duplicity is his latest plunge into the world of corporate espionage, and while 2007’s Michael Clayton came off well—in large part due to the depth of character given to and executed by Tilda Swinton, as a lonely, sympathetically evil executive—this time around, Gilroy shepherds Julia Roberts and Clive Owen through a much lighter-hearted romcom version of the game, with tepid results. Bet you didn’t see that coming.
Duplicity opens with an encounter between two government operatives, Claire (Roberts) and Ray (Owen). They part ways after sleeping together (for spying purposes, of course!) but never forget each other, eventually re-meeting and falling in love. Other than the fact they’re both chronically untrusting, their other crucial flaw is greed: They make a pact to “go private,” landing jobs for rival corporations with the aim of stealing a valuable secret to the tune of about $40 million. It’s not like they can just retire modestly to a quiet house in the country, after all, accustomed as they are to globetrotting through five-star hotels and wearing a wide variety of stupid sunglasses.
Duplicity is old school in many ways, and perhaps overcompensates for its fluffy protagonists by going full-bore with the convolution of its plot. This is significantly less interesting without any element to create a sense of real danger. The men in power here are the heads of pharmaceutical companies, who are played by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti, and are first introduced via a slow motion scene in which they engage in a laughably inept fistfight. Eccentric and egotistical, yes, but neither one of these men is interested in or capable of ordering any sinister executions, or even the breaking of an occasional finger. Essentially, all this leaves the audience to worry about is whether or not Claire and Ray’s arrogance and sense of entitlement is justified.
As idle entertainment, Duplicity is serviceable, with several scenes worthy of a slightly tighter grip on your armrests. But in the vast catalog of spy movies, this one barely registers, and whatever impact it has in the moment is quickly, effortlessly forgotten. Indeed, even the ending’s final twist—intended to floor the audience—feels sloppy and under-justified. Here’s hoping Gilroy’s next film—the investigative journalism drama State of Play—will find ways to surprise us.