 KSL Movie Show Review:...
DECEPTION *1/2 By Steve Salles Standard Examiner movie critic GO: if you want to see Ewan McGregor act coy and Hugh Jackman look menacing - sort of. DON’T GO: if you thought this was supposed to be a mystery - ah, refer to title. I’m always troubled with film titles that say too much about a movie. I mean come on - Deception? With a title like that, right away I’m looking for someone to deceive me. What if “The Sixth Sense” had been called “I See Dead People and I Bet You Can’t Guess Who.” You would have figured it out in ten minutes. Not that “Deception” is all that clever in construct as plot points are practically highlighted with a yellow marker. So, I’ve come up with a few titles that are even more descriptive. How about “Transparent” or “Painfully Obvious” or “ Sex But No Subtlety.” That should keep audiences guessing. Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) is a mild-mannered accountant who visits various New York clients to see if anyone has been cooking the books. Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) is a charismatic attorney who befriends our bookish C.P.A. and decides to take him under his wing and show him a good time. Really? When they “inadvertently” switch cell phones, Jonathan starts getting all these requests for sex dates on Wyatt’s calling plan and decides to fill in for his new friend who is suddenly away on business. Yeah, right. Jonathan through Wyatt has become a de facto member of a sex club for busy executives who don’t have time in their mad corporate worlds to get involved in relationships. It works fairly simply. He gets a call and hears - “Are you free tonight.” He can answer yes or no (mostly yes), they arrange a meeting, no names, no rough stuff and no shop talk. No money changes hands. The caller pays for the room. No uncomfortable goodbyes. It’s just bing, bang, boom and off they go. No fuss - no muss. But then Jonathan gets a call from a lovely woman he’s seen before in the subway. He knows her first name starts with an “S” but that’s all. He’s not interested in just a one-night stand with “S” (Michelle Williams). He wants to break the rules and get to know her more intensely. On one of their nights, he comes back from the ice machine to an empty room. He sees blood stains on the bed, but gets knocked unconscious. When he comes to, the blood stains have vanished, the room’s been cleaned and “S” is gone. Jonathan decides to call the police. What’s happened to her? Does Wyatt have anything to do with her disappearance? How do you get into that club again? Unless you’ve lapsed into a coma, you’ve already figured out most of the answers to these less than startling questions. And still to help you if you’re mentally challenged, the director is there leading you by the hand. This is kindergarten film noir, folks. Nothing to see here. So, the big reveal isn’t. The real purpose for all the subterfuge is left behind. And the key element in understanding how Jonathan perhaps catches on is less than satisfying. Gosh, sounds like a “Deception” to me. And could be for you too if you spend your money on this slick looking waste of talent with an overwrought score and an overexposed plot. Other than that, I loved it. THE FILM: “Deception” OUR RATING: *1/2 STARRING: Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Natasha Henstridge and Maggie Q BEHIND THE SCENES: Directed by Marcel Langenegger in his directorial debut - best known for directing commercials - filmed in New York City and Madrid. PLAYING: Running time: 108 minutes MPAA RATING: R movies at a glance: DECEPTION *1/2 (R) sexual content, language, brief violence and some drug use. A poor lonely accountant gets dragged into a sex club by a work colleague, but what is he really after? There’s nothing mysterious about this mystery except how they talked a handful of good actresses into getting naked, or how they made Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor appear to be interested in this flimsy storyline.
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