Director: Tony Gilroy
Starring: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti
In Cinemas: 19 March 2009

Duplicity comes off as being your run-of-the-mill spy thriller with pretty stars, exotic scenery and a popular plotline where the corporate no-gooders get a comeuppance. At least it doesn’t try to be anything else.

Ray Koval (Owen) works in corporate espionage handling agents who work undercover. Soon enough, he is assigned to the sassy Claire Stenwick (Roberts), and sparks fly.

As the title announces, Duplicity is concerned with the betrayals and deceits that make up our relationships. The films premise is that our leading couple, for all their chemistry and mutual attract, can’t trust each other a-la Mr & Mrs Smith style, being professional liars and all. To reassure the other, both pledge to use their corporate spy skills to pull of a heist of $40 million and set up a lifetime of holidays.

The film depicts Ray and Claire as an old-fashioned fast-talking couple that leaves your imagination to work out what drives them. They’re charming, cynical and smart who share a business vernacular and ethical beliefs. Essentially, they’re a pair of designer-dressed pretty people whose sleek and inconsequential affair leads exactly to where you think it will.