MOVIE REVIEW: Duplicity (12A)

Julia Roberts. A poster featuring the Oscar winner’s name is a rare thing nowadays. Concentrating on her family life, everyone’s favourite pretty woman has been a bit camera-shy since 2004’s Closer, with this only her second acting appearance after 2007's Charlie Wilson’s War. Her latest sees her team up with Clive Owen again for Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy’s second film, Duplicity.

The story is set in the world of industrial espionage. Two medical companies have counter-intelligence departments in order to survey and possibly steal the other’s innovations. Claire (Julia Roberts) and Ray (Clive Owen) are former special agents now in the employ of the rival companies. What their bosses don’t know is that the pair are lovers, and so together hatch a plot to exploit the companies for millions when one announces a new ‘miracle’ product is imminent.

Movie buffs would be expecting big things from director Tony Gilroy’s latest. As well as directing ...Clayton, he wrote scripts for The Devil’s Advocate, was one of the many writers on Armageddon, and penned a few spy movies about some guy named Bourne. So to get a light heist comedy is certainly a surprise. It really delights in darting back and forth, challenging you to guess the next plot twist, but never builds enough tension to bring you to the edge of your seat. It also feels like a tourism video for the New York tourism board, with every gleaming skyscraper filmed in a series of swooping aerial shots. Both the context of the story and the love plot is interesting, but it’s never really put across why their respective missions are so very important.

It’s rumoured that Roberts took the part in order to work near her New York home. Now, there have certainly been worse reasons for making a movie, but this doesn’t ease the feeling that here, as with every film she’s done since Erin Brokovich, Roberts is phoning it in. She seems to believe playing a fierce ice queen means she will steal every scene, but without passion in the performance it’s a non-starter. Owen is his usual self- brooding, enigmatic, a little bit cocky, but with the added humour that lifts the film’s quality level substantially. Giamatti and Wilkinson play the warring businessmen exactly how you’d imagine, and they provide some of the best (or maybe most bizarre) scenes.

Duplicity is a movie that feels very pleased with itself, but actually doesn’t have much reason to be. It’s clever, yes, but no more than Ocean’s 11, and if you’ve seen the Roberts/Clooney heist movie (or Owen’s Inside Man) then you’ll quickly cotton on to the formula. A very pleasant way to spend two hours, but not the jaw-dropper the film’s line-up implied.

Duplicity is out March 20.