Duplicity

Now Showing

On Sky Box Office

Director:

Stars: Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti

Year: 2009 Running Time: 124 mins Rating:

Pretty Woman seeks Inside Man for a Thomas Crown-ish affair as Julia Roberts and Clive Owen bed down for an audacious scam in this slick caper from Michael Clayton creator Tony Gilroy. As ex-spies who now work for rival pharmaceutical giants (Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti), the pair conspire to steal a priceless formula before either of their employers can get it on the market. But while passion keeps them together, trust is hard to come by...

Review

Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy is back on corporate crimewatch with Roberts and Owen as Ray Koval and Claire Stenwick, former CIA/MI6 agents who have ditched their government jobs for similar but more lucrative work in the cutthroat world of Big Pharma.

Outwardly, they fight for opposite teams. On the sly, however, they are lovers, plotting to be in exactly the right place when the next big, top-secret thing comes along.

So when her company, led by the deliciously greedy Tom Wilkinson, develops a product that will change the world, she is perfectly placed to rip off the formula with the help of his company, led by the deliciously greedy Paul Giamatti.

The problem is, Ray and Claire don’t trust each other.

Gilroy keeps up the ante with plenty of globe-trotting, time-hopping, screen-splitting (a la The Thomas Crown Affair) and more double-crosses than a spot-the-ball coupon.