Duplicity with Julia Roberts
Posted on March 28, 2009
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 Duplicity is a determinedly lighthearted movie about corporate affairs with billion-dollar effects. The movie features Julia Roberts and Clive Owen as Claire and Ray, a couple of corporate spies — also  in love — who must hide their romance while appearing to work as agents on the payrolls of competing multinational pharmaceutical companies, bringing out the gory details of a revolutionary new product under development. Julia Roberts working for the CIA and Clive Owen working for MI6 play competing undercover corporate high level top secret business spies who may or may not be conning each other.The fun is that they don’t trust one another, nor should they, since each is regularly spoofed. The movie shows us what lengths mega companies go to keep their new product information secret and out of the hands of their competitors. The spys in this case will not even acknowledge their relationship as a sly parallel to regular relationships. The implication here is that most people do not say or trust themselves in relationships, but as spies Julia and Clive have good reason to be wary. Multi continent travels and stay in five star hotels with many plot twists and counter twists follow.
To be fair, Julia Roberts isn’t really banking on  “Duplicity†as her comeback moment. Other film observers attached the comeback thrill, viewing the flick as a chance for Roberts to prove she’s still a leading lady.The Julia Roberts-Clive Owen spy caper does some appreciative work for luxury hotels by putting them in the limelight like the Ritzy hotel bedrooms which play an important role because they’re romantic and “the only time (the lead characters) have to be together is clandestine meetings in hotels”. The One&Only Ocean Club, a chichi hideaway on Paradise Island in the Bahamas that has hosted celebs such as Oprah Winfrey, makes an unbilled appearance as a trysting spot supposedly in the Miami area. The London hotel scene was shot in the presidential suite of Manhattan’s The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park. And the ballroom of the St. Regis Grand Hotel, Rome stands in for Zurich in a scene where Owen’s and Roberts’ corporate-spy characters try for a big score with Swiss businessmen.
Other movies competing this week in the US box office are starring Nicolas Cage’s Knowing which jumped out to an early lead at the weekend box office, grossing $9 million. The sci-fi flick thus has the inside edge to win a frame that is living up to expectations as a closely fought contest between three big new releases. Of those competitors, the R-rated Paul Rudd-Jason Segel comedy I Love You, Man fared well, earning a solid $6.4 mil on Friday, while Duplicity was a bit soft, with $4.7 mil. Reigning champ Race to Witch Mountain, meanwhile, banked $3.8 mil and should rise in the box office rankings as families flock to their local multiplexes over the weekend.
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