One blog. Two opinions. One zillion films.

Well, David, I finally saw Duplicity last week, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I was also confused. I’m a bit scared of telling you how I was confused because you weren’t confused.

Although the movie is a romantic spy-romp, with a lot of camera time spent making love to plush hotels  it kept me interested.  Sometimes these simple formulas backfire; the chemistry doesn’t work between the stars, the story dumps off prematurely, ends with a whimper.   I did not see the ending coming until just before it happened.

Why do trailers take the low road?   Duplicity’s trailers were so uninteresting, and really didn’t give enough of a peek into the multiple layers of the story.  It looked like Roberts and Owen played spies who may or may not have cheated on each other romantically.  And that was boring.  If they’d included some teasers about Wilkinson’s and Giamatti’s roles, a few look-sees into the spy laboratory, I’d have gotten to the theater sooner than I did.

That slow-mo corporate rumble on the airport tarmac was great.  Loved it!  Should have made the trailer.

I’ve come to appreciate Julia Roberts’ acting.  She wasn’t in a stretch situation here, but she has a great earthy presence now that she’s had children.   She’s put some weight on too, and is comfortable in that skin.  A great step forward for female actresses.  There really isn’t another actress “like” Roberts, she’s unique.  Most of the time these days, actresses are interchangeable; they look like each other, talk like each other, and they all date Owen Wilson.

Roberts was great in Charlie Wilson’s War.

Owen was fine, too.  He seemed a bit dumb at times; he’s the softie and Roberts is the more hard-bitten of the two.

Of course, it ends up that neither is in charge.

Ok, I was confused at the flashbacks and the whole deal with the script Owens and Roberts rehearse.