PRINTTake Two: Deception
Courtesy Of Seed Productions
May 1, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Like other thrillers, Deception is filled with twists and turns designed to surprise the audience. Unfortunately, not one of them is actually misleading. The plot revelations are as transparent as the fact that Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman were working for a paycheck on this film — unless it was the multiple sex scenes that drew them in.
Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) is a nerdy accountant who meets a lawyer named Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) during an audit. The two develop a friendship, and McQuarry becomes fascinated by Bose’s lifestyle, especially his sexual encounters via a dial-a-lay sex club. McQuarry then gets tangled up in this club, which is predictably part of a bigger plot that involves murder, lies and money. In order to save the woman he loves, McQuarry must steal a large sum of money from a company.
The problem is that all the film’s hints are far from subtle; the audience can see right through this movie within the first five minutes. To guess what comes next takes little effort. Perhaps that’s because the plot is also incredibly similar to 2005’s Derailed, which starred Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. Even some of the narrative surprises are the same.
The nail in the coffin is the consistently terrible dialogue that McGregor and Jackman struggle to make sound acceptable. “That was just foreplay, and you just got f---ed,” Bose says in one scene. Ultimately there is no way to take their cliché and overdramatic lines as anything but humorous. This film is great for a laugh but nothing else. Save your money, and more importantly, don’t waste your time.
Vox Rating:
