Duplicity

I don't usually go for "spy-thriller" films, but I made an exception for Duplicity, mostly because I like Julia Roberts. Her character, Claire, a CIA agent, and Ray(Clive Owen), an M16 agent, have to work together to carry out a complicated con, and stay together in a romantic relationship.

At the beginning of the film, it Claire and Ray meet for the first time, and Ray is, unknowingly, Claire's assignment. Though she cons him and drugs him, he is still entranced with her, but the next few scenes wouldn't appear that way. The movie is somewhat hard to follow, because it switches back and forth between the past and present. It would appear that Claire, who now works undercover at a company called Burkett & Randle, and Ray, a new addition to an agency called Equickrom, hate each other, and hate that they are assigned to work together. But we find out later that Claire and Ray did not meet by chance, they planned the whole thing so that they would be able to stay together. They had met in Rome after their first meeting, and had fallen in love before this. They had devised a complicated plan to defy both their employers. Equickrom believes that B&R is developing a new product that they stole from them, so each CEO, Garsik of Equickrom, and Howard Tully of B&R (Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson) plans to con the other, to steal the formula to the product. Claire and Ray each make their way to the inside of each company, find their secrets. Believing they have B&R beat, Claire accuses Ray of cheating, of working for B&R, and he is searched by Equickrom. But she has not betrayed him- she did it so that the two of them would sell the formula to the new product with Equickrom's backing. However, the Swiss company that they planned to sell it to informs them that the formula is a fraud. Garsik, Ray, and Claire realize that they have been fooled by Tully and B&R, and the film ends with them waiting to see what happens next. They are doubtful about their future as agents, but nonetheless happy to all have each other.

Since the plot is so complex, it's difficult to watch sometimes. Not that it's too hard to follow, but rather it's hard to get involved with the characters. The entertaining part is the interactions between them, especially Garsik and Tully, and Ray and Claire. As agents and bosses, they are always on their toes, always convinced that someone is trying to play the other. The ending was so unexpected. Director Tony Gilroy builds up the agents' reputations, so that the audience is under the impression that the only thing left to do after they complete their mission is to love each other, and that they never do anything wrong. But then everything changes when you realize they've been had. I liked the ending though, I liked how Roberts and Owen weren't completely destroyed by this realization- they keep it...cool throughout the entire film, there's really not other way to describe it.