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Crimson Romance

Crimson Romance
For the best in romance, from sweet to naughty!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Duplicity

Starring: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Tom Wilkinson
Running time: 125 minutes
Genre: Crime/Thriller/Romance

From the Poster: She's Ex-CIA. He's Ex-MI6. Together they're stealing a fortune.

As the movie open, it's 2003, Dubai. Boy meets girl, boy and girl have tons of fun, girl drugs boy after a good time is had, and makes of with secret plans.

Jump to present day. Ray (Boy-Clive Owen) has since retired from MI6 and now works in corporate espionage. Claire (Girl-Julia Roberts) has retired from the CIA and also works in corporate espionage. Since the end of the cold war, agents of all variety have gone corporate, easy money and few bullets. Ray works for one big wig corporation and Claire the other, both manufacturing personal care products, shaving cream, soaps, shampoos. Claire is in actually a double agent working both sides of the corporate world, sneaking soapy secrets out to the other side. She's a plant put in place by Richard Garsik (Paul Giamatti) against his arch rival Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson).

As Claire works to steal the zealously guarded secrets from Howard's company, Ray becomes her handler. He's still upset about Dubia....or is he? Flash back to Rome, three years earlier. Ray - Don't I know you, I'm terrible with names, but people I sleep with, B...B+ Claire - (laughingly) Why don't you jog my memory.
Rome turns out to be lots of fun. (This happens several time throughout the movie, Boy meets Girl -- argue...always end up in bed...always funny and sweet...and may I say, lots of near naked Clive Owen...lots of chest hair. And for the guys -- Julia Roberts in a thong! Well, she doesn't actually take it off, just shows it off and says it's her's. Feels like a chick flick, with just enough to keep the guys interested.)

Months earlier through flash backs, the viewer finds that Ray and Claire having been cooking up a scheme of their own. Corporate espionage turned corporate sell out, make a ton of money, retire together, and enjoy the good life. Problem - neither one can entirely trust the other. Remember Dubai......So, now we know their in bed together, both literally and figuratively.

Howard's company has discovered the newest biggest personal care product of all time and it's going to close the doors on Dick's company. There is much scrambling to find the secret, what it is, what's it used for, and how much money is it worth? Finally, Claire stumbles upon the secret, and after a lot running around, trying to find a copy machine that Dick's company has access to, she deliveries the big news. The new product is a shampoo. But not any ordinary shampoo, this one is all natural and re-grows hair. No more bald guys or hair club for men, it's going to be shampoo city and it's going to make a fortune, for whoever can manufacture the product fastest. Or is it?......

As Dick's company makes the big announcement of their new find, their new product, that will revolutionize hair care, Howard is slowly revealing his plan. Howard and Dick have been rivals for many years, sometimes coming to blows. And Dick is a real life d***. So, as Dick is revealing his new product, Howard lets everyone else in on the secret. There is no new product, it's all been a big con. He has dupped everyone. Including his security chief, Claire, who he knows has all along been working for arch rival Dick. In fact, Dick's whole security team is on Howard's payroll.

During this whole debacle, Ray and Claire sneak off to Germany to sell the formula to the Swiss, unknown to them that the formula is a fraud. The Swiss have offered big bucks for the new discovery which turns out to be a hand cream, and not a very good one. The Swiss withdraw their millions and go home. Ray and Claire are stunned, as a bottle of champaign is delivered courtesy of Howard. The corporate spies have been played and in a big way, by an amateur.

This was an incredibly fun movie from start to finish, reminiscent of Ocean's Eleven. It did get a little confusing with all the flashing back and flashing forward, repeating dialogue so after a bit the viewer could repeat it with the characters. But the chemistry between Julia Roberts and Clive Owen more than makes up for any confuse, they worked well together on the big screen.
The setting takes place all over the world, beautiful landscapes and scenery. Eventually, the viewer figures out how to keep up with the movie, maybe this was done to keep the audience on their toes and encourage a second viewing. I don't know, but I do know that it was funny and sweet. It was a good love story, multiple views of Clive Owen in the near next to nothing. Julia Roberts played a strong woman with her own goals and agenda, but in a funny, sweet, irresistible kind of way. If you like a little intrigue mixed with a little romance with lots of plot twist, Duplicity is the movie for you. I had a good time!

Here's a peek at the trailer.

10 comments:

VampFanGirl said...

I love Clive Owen. He's so yummy. My favorite of him is actually another Julia Roberts pairing, 'Closer'. Damn, that was one amazing movie. Loved it from begining to end.

'Duplicity' sounds good too, Dottie. But as with all movies, I'll wait until it comes out on DVD. Paying 10.50 to watch a movie just pisses my off and ruins any enjoyment I may have had.

Great Review!

:) VFG

Unknown said...

Hi VFG!

It was such a sweet movie, except for the twists and turns, but even those were fun. Clive Owen is another Sir Hotness, that's for sure! I haven't seen Closer, but I'm going to look for it.

Here in hickville, Kerasotes runs a five dollar movie day with free popcorn on Tuesdays all day/night (it cost us $13.50 to go). And, I belong to the Five Buck Club through Kerasotes, within two weeks, admission drops to five dollars usually. (Duplicity was already a five buck movie.)

It's the only way I go to the movies, I can't afford ten bucks each to see a flick (it takes all the fun out of watching the movie), but it makes a nice date night when it's only ten bucks for both. It pisses me off too because there is no way in he** that it should COST that much. I don't know if Kerasotes is a local thing or nationwide, but it's too good a deal to pass up. And I have NO KIDS for at least two hours!

Dottie :)

Blanche said...

Hi Dottie!!

I LOVE Clive Owen too and I really want to see this movie!!! :)

Unknown said...

Hi Blanche!

It was really good, I couldn't believe it was already a five dollar movie, it so much fun if it doesn't cost a fortune!

Clive was really sweet in this movie, definitely eye candy. Wore lots of towels, open shirts, *fanning myself* It was good clean fun!

Oh, Blanche, I gave you an award - hope you like it! (Page down to the post after this one.)

Dottie

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Clive Owen!! Ugh, why is VFG trying to steal all my men?! LOL! I also loved Oceans Eleven so I need to add this one to my Netflix picks. Thanks for the review, Dottie!!

Unknown said...

Hi Barbara!

You know, I hope I don't have to throw water on you two. Don't make me stop this car! lololol..I think Clive Owen is tremendous eye candy!! Did you notice the chest hair? You know he has hair like that all the way down to the edge of his towel?? And that towel was precariously close to...well, lets say it was quite a bit below the belly button, kept trying to peek over the top of the towel! Movie magic ...sigh...how do they keep that towel from slipping off!!

Dottie :)

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the movie too. Thought there was really good chemistry between the leads - and Clive Owen is always nice to look at - I wasn't so worried that I had no idea what was going on. Though everyone else in the theatre was really annoyed by that and that impacted on my ability to really enjoy it.

And yes, the chest hair is massively appealing. You don't see that much anymore in mainstream movies.

Unknown said...

Hi Artfulkisser!

Glad you stopped by. I thought it was an excellent movie, the plot twist and turns were fine with me, I was just confused the first time they repeated the dialogue ...lolol.. There was only one other older couple in the theater with us, and I think they were dumbfounded. They didn't even laugh at the funny parts. And I'm sure they weren't there for the chest hair!!

Dottie :)

Sha and Michelle said...

I work at a theater so I get my movies for free!

I walked in about 30 minutes late to Duplicity (we I got off work), but I caught on to what was happening pretty quickly.

I don't like chest hair!!! Clive Owen does have gorgeous eyes though!

:)

Unknown said...

Hi Sha and Michelle!

Glad you stopped by!

I wish I got to see all the movies for free. That would be great, seeing how I love to watch them. We try to go a couple of times a month.

Okay, I know Clive's chest hair isn't for everyone, I'll admit that. But he has a body that screams yum and I agree about the eyes - 100% gorgeous *sigh* yum.

I thought the plot twists were fine, it added to the fun nature of the film, I really enjoyed it!

Dottie :)

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