DVD Release Date:  August 25, 2009
Theatrical Release Date:  March 20, 2009
Rating:  PG-13 (for language and some sexual content)
Genre:  Romance
Run Time:  125 min.
Director:  Tony Gilroy
Actors:  Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson, Dan Daily, Oleg Shtefanko, Carrie Preston, Denis O'Hare

Tony Gilroy is on a hot streak. The screenwriter for the Bourne trilogy of films, Gilroy added to his repertoire by getting behind the camera for 2007's Michael Clayton. That film, which unfolded its narrative by fracturing the timeline and telling its story in a nonlinear fashion, earned him Oscar nominations for his screenplay as well as his direction. Tilda Swinton also won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.

Gilroy's new film, Duplicity, which he wrote and directed, shares his previous film's sharp visuals but falters in the story department, overusing the time-fracturing narrative device that worked so well in Michael Clayton. The device hinders Duplicity's central romance between Ray Koval (Clive Owen) and Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts), former government spies who now work for corporations but dream of a big score that might allow them to start their own private firm.

The couple has a history, going back to a night they spent together years earlier in Dubai. That tryst ended with Claire absconding with critical information from Ray, but their relationship was far from over.

After the initial introduction of the characters, the story jumps ahead five years. Later, a title card tells us that the story has shifted to two years earlier, in Rome, then to London 18 months ago, then Cleveland three months ago, etc. Ray is working for business bigwig Richard Garsik (Paul Giamatti), who wants a heads-up on a rival company's big product unveiling. To get the details, Ray will have to work with Claire, who's found a way inside of the rival company and has the ear of its CEO (Tom Wilkinson).

Rather than drawing viewers into the story as Michael Clayton did, the time hopping gives Duplicity a herky-jerky quality that challenges viewers to fill in the gaps. Ray and Claire bicker, cavort and travel the globe, but the romance, which gets by easily on Roberts' and Owen's movie-star magnetism in the early going, gets lost in the script's too cute narrative fracturing. That gambit might work were the plot equal to the star power, as the storyline of Michael Clayton was to the performances of George Clooney, Swinton and Wilkinson. But the tone of Duplicity is much breezier, beginning with an over-the-top CEO showdown and continuing with flirtatious banter between the two leads.