The Movie: Duplicity (opening March 20)

The Buzz: Um… is there any? When I saw the trailer before Frost/Nixon, I didn’t even know Duplicity existed. However, it features Julia Roberts and Clive Owen and was written and directed by the guy who made Michael Clayton. It’ll generate plenty of buzz in the weeks to come.

The Trailer:

The Review:

How ironic that I saw this before Frost/Nixon, which despite being a very good film is nothing close to sexy. Duplicity, on the other hand, looks sexy as hell. The preview sells it as a Soderbergh cocktail, stirring Out of Sight and Oceans Eleven into a fizzy new brew. If nothing else, that slow-mo shot of Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti fighting on a tarmac is Soderbergh all the way—broad and jokey, yes, but also stylish and expensive-looking.

This isn’t a Soderbergh movie, of course, it’s a Tony GIlroy movie, and Michael Clayton proved he can handle corporate paranoia. It’ll be interesting to see him play the same world for laughs.

But all that comes second to Clive and Julia’s chemistry. It looks like they’re scorching the wallpaper, which is exactly what it takes to make a movie like this work. (Where was this heat in Closer?)

I just hope the trailer doesn’t show us all the shots of Shirtless Clive. With any luck, he’ll do a twenty-minute undercover mission in a steam room.

The Rating: Five Hunka-Hunks of Burning Clive