DVD Release Date:  October 16, 2007
Theatrical Release Date:  April 6, 2007 (limited), April 13, 2007 (wide)
Rating:  R (for language)
Genre:  Drama/Adaptation/Biopic
Run Time:  118 min.
Director:  Lasse Hallstrom
Actors:  Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, Stanley Tucci, Julie Delpy, Eli Wallach, and John Carter

There are many films out there that inspire us with stories about the influence of one great person and how they changed society.  The Hoax is not one of them.  In fact, it’s the story of the widespread influence of two men of dubious character whose trickery, deception and control wielded scary levels of influence over companies, presidents, and the American public of the 1970s. 

Though the plot is mildly interesting and the filmmakers do a good job of creating tension, The Hoax leaves audiences with a slimy feeling and a cynical assurance that gifted liars and powerful billionaires do win out in the end.

The movie opens with a building being evacuated and a group of executives at McGraw Hill Publishers scurrying around, awaiting an important helicopter landing on the roof.  Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) smiles and says, “There he is. I knew he’d come.”

We then flash to “Four months earlier,” where we find out the story behind just who might be in that mysterious helicopter. 

It’s the late 1960s, and Andrea Tate (Hope Davis), a top exec at McGraw, has just told Clifford that his new book manuscript will not actually be published because Life Magazine hated it.  It’s too bad, too, because Clifford has just purchased a trophy car for his wife, Edith (Marcia Gay Harden) in advance celebration of his victory.

To lick his wounds and figure out a new strategy, Clifford goes to the Bahamas with his friend, Dick Susskind (Alfred Molina), a researcher and writer himself, who urges Clifford to stop living so big and heroically and get some rest.  That night everyone gets kicked out of the posh Britannia Beach Hotel they’re staying in because billionaire Howard Hughes wants the pool to himself.

As Clifford rants and fumes about it to his wife, a painter, he steps on a magazine about “The Secret World of Howard Hughes” and gets an idea.  Why not go to McGraw Hill and tell them that he has an exclusive deal to write Hughes’ autobiography? Dick is terrified, but Edith loves the plan, and Clifford works his persuasive charm on Andrea, fully convincing her and her associates that it’s real and will be “the best book of the century.”  He signs a million dollar deal with the publisher and begins his research.