March
23All Smarts, No Fun
Among cinematic genres, none is more seductive than caper films. They’re contrarian, funny, surprising – the little guy defying the establishment.I’ve been enmeshed in caper films since the first “Italian Job” when Michael Caine stuck it to the bad guys (the heavy was Noel Coward!) So I was delighted to learn that Tony Gilroy, the writer-director responsible for “Michael Clayton,” had decided to invade the genre, even recruiting the glam team of Julia Roberts and Clive Owen as his lead caperers.
Well, the critics by and large applauded Gilroy’s piece, but audiences have been less than exuberant (“Duplicity” registered a third place finish last weekend, grossing $14.4 million). In this case, I agree with the filmgoers.
In devising his caper, Gilroy set out to defy the basic rules of caper-making – that the genre requires jeopardy, action and sex. “Duplicity” is stuffed with clever twists and cutesy lines, but no one is really in danger, very little happens (just lots of shifts in location) and the Julia-Clive relationship seems downright literary.
Hence I’m inclined to agree with Joe Morgenstern, the critic of the Wall Street Journal, who said that, while he loved “smart” films, this one managed to “tease the brain without pleasing the heart.” In diagnosing the plot, Morgenstern asked: “Why does figuring out the puzzle come to feel a lot like work?”
The answer is that caper films should feel exhilarating; this one is ultimately a downer.
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