Duplicity is about two corporate spies Ray Koval and Claire Stenwick (Clive Owen and Julia Roberts) who planned to scheme millions from their respective companies. On top of this, they have trust issues that they need to sort out to pull off the scheme.
Duplicity relied on flashbacks to show the various twists in the plot. And there were a lot of it. Being double agents, trust is not their strong suit. There are lots of back stabbing among them. And even fake ones that might be confusing for some viewers if you don’t pay close attention to what’s happening on the screen.
Ray Koval (Clive Owen): I think about you all the time. I think about you even when you’re with me. I look at you, I can’t stop looking at you. I look at you, and I think, “That woman… That woman knows who I am and loves me anyway.”
You might think that Duplicity is a romantic comedy but it is a crime movie driven by the unpredictability of the story that makes the audience wonder what will come next. Some are turned off by the slow pace in the beginning but it picks up around the time Ray and Claire meet again.
So what’s the big scheme? Well they thought that what they stole was the cure for baldness. It was the perfect crime in their mind but in the end it turned out that Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson), Claire’s boss, knew about their plan and orchestrated things without them knowing it.
Tully had this grand scheme to trick his competitor into believing he has something big coming out soon. He planted everything and even came out with the fake formula. Ray and Claire thought they are the king and queen but were just Tully’s pawns to shame his competitor.
Duplicity was fun to watch and I love the intricacy of the plot. It might be full of flashbacks with the two characters delivering the same line that the characters made up as part of their plan but it is still enjoyable and I recommend it for those who love crime thrillers.
