Starring: Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Maggie Q, Natasha Henstridge, Charlotte Rampling

Directed by: Marcel Langenegger

Twentieth Century Fox

The Official Site of Deception

Discuss Deception on the boards!

So, either you’re aware of this movie, and you just said something along the lines of, “Jesus, he really does love crappy movies� or you’ve never heard of Deception and just picked your jaw up off the ground after seeing its cast list and wondering if this went direct to DVD. It didn’t. I’ve got the movie stub to prove it. Whichever category you fall into, chances are you didn’t actually see it. You shouldn’t feel bad though. There are plenty of reasons not to have seen it that go far beyond its vanilla title. (Seriously, you might as well call the movie Sneaky.) Even with that great cast list and an incredible eye behind the camera in young director Marcel Langenegger, the film doesn’t know what to do with itself story wise, fails at trying to be clever and ends up stringing you along beyond the friendly point before finally crumbling into a bland love story. One that’s perfectly suited to the title actually.

All the reasons that most people have never heard of this movie are the same ones that should have kept me from seeing it in the first place, but last spring when it was released, just as the big summer movies were in sight, a smart, sexy thriller seemed like the perfect change of pace. Only once in a while will Hollywood put out a really well crafted, well-told story made specifically for adults. You know. One that’s not a porno. I guess I just described a dozen really good movies but how many of them purposefully targeted an older, more sophisticated crowd and at the same time never shied away from exploring the boundaries of sexuality. I don’t remember seeing Michael Clayton make a booty call.

When the trailers for Deception showed it to be the kind of sexy, smart mystery that the theater has been devoid of for a while, I jumped at the opportunity for something different. Turns out movies for smart, sexy, old people are a little uninspired.

McGregor plays Jonathan McQuarry, a shy accountant buried in work and the rut of a lonely existence. After meeting and befriending Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman who nails this part), a confident and alluring ladies man, Jonathan gets a peek at what he’s missing out on in his life.

One presumably accidental phone exchange later, as if it weren’t intentional and important down the road (don’t worry – no spoilers), Jonathan begins receiving calls from seductive voices beckoning him to hotel rooms across the city. It seems Wyatt is part of a secret, anonyms sex club. The secure lady killer, who happens to be out of town on business and unable to retrieve the phone, gives the shy bookworm the go ahead to have some fun in his name.

What follows is a series of sexual encounters ranging from tasteful to never-make-it-past-the-parental-block soft core porn. I mean, Natasha Henstridge looks incredible and all, but I’m pretty sure I saw her butt hole. If that’s what you’re into – great, I see a DVD rental or illegal download in your future, but for me – I could have done without.

In these encounters no names are exchanged, just addresses, pleasantries and genitalia. That’s one of the club’s rules. One that Jonathan tries to break after meeting up with the girls of his dreams “S� played by Michelle Williams. Williams is lovely here. We’ve really never had a chance to see her on screen in such a sexual role and it suits her. I mean beyond the superficial reasons. She plays femme fatal very well.

Eventually S goes missing and Jonathan goes crazy trying to figure it out. Up until this point of the movie (butt holes asides) things were going great. Smart, sexy, sharp, other “s� words, but things fall apart when they tell you what’s really going on. Deception gives you too long to figure it out on your own. It gives you too much time to consider every possible outcome, compare it to other movies and eventually settle on the most satisfying conclusion. And then the actual ending isn’t nearly as good. You think the reveal is something more than it is and by the time they make known to you the truth, you’ve written a better story inside your head.

Even worse they tack on this pathetic twist at the end that is so unnecessary and out of character for everyone. It felt like a child’s attempt at writing an M. Night Shyamalan movie. It felt like the kind of ending you wake up dreaming about, write down so you won’t forget, only to wake up and read some nonsensical limerick about monkeys fighting pirates (which totally would have made a better ending.) It was a decisive ending. By that I mean, without it, the audience would have walked out saying, “Oh there were some good bits.� With it the audience can walk out assured that the movie truly sucks.

That’s really why you shouldn’t lose too much sleep never having heard of it. You’re not missing much. Even if you’re like I was back in the spring, looking for something different among the bright lights of an active early summer, this isn’t what you’re looking for. Deception isn’t the movie I needed. It’s certainly smart and sexy without being dirty or juvenile, but it’s not nearly as clever as it thinks itself to be.

Rating: 4 out of 10 - Having watched the film a second time on DVD I was able to appreciate it more then in the theater where I tried to will the movie to be something it wasn’t. A second time through I was able to watch it for the classy, mysterious thriller it is. Rather, “trying to be�.

Deception feels like it was made 50 years too late. Audiences have trained themselves to look for the twist. We love our explosions, boobs and fart jokes, but you’re not going to get some rinky-dink surprise past us. In the golden age of cinema with this level of acting and camera work as well as the lack of 50 years of rip-offs and re-dos to compare it to, Deception would have thrived. It’s a classic movie in the wrong era. That’s a remarkably generous statement…

No, but I could see myself watching this on occasion. Something tells me it will play to its strengths the more often it’s seen. I’m just not prepared to make that kind of commitment right now though.

Normally I would have let this movie go without giving it a review. People are barely aware of it anyway and it’s not one of those movies that is so good that it demands to be seen. Know what I mean? There’s no sense in me “spreading the word�. I mean it’s not Iron Man or anything. (DVD review and comic next week!)

What made me go through with the review was the comic. I had written and drawn it out back then and really liked the simplicity of the joke. It’s crude but goofy and that’s always a fun combination. Last month I saw that Deception was coming out on DVD and I decided to put this together. I probably didn’t have to write such an in depth review though.

In Tuesday’s review of Eagle Eye I talked a little about Baltimore Comic Con and promised you guys some more recapping goodness. I thought today I’d give shout outs to our table neighbors. (Say “table neighbors� out loud. It’s fun. That should be a band name.) To our left were the guys from The N3RD Cast, a great podcast that covers comics, games and all kinds of other geeky fun. They were really friendly and ended up buying a ridiculous amount of alcohol for the group when many of us met up for drinks after the show. They’re a big reason why Baltimore locals may have seen me stumbling through the streets in the middle of the night having a very drunken conversation on why Fringe “isn’t quite there yet.� Cheers to The N3RD crew. I owe you guys a shot.

To our right is… well kind of an embarrassing story. Let me say first that I’m kind of shy in person. Normally if I’m talking to someone, I’m not the one that initiated it. Like I said on Tuesday, “I don’t like to bother people�, which by the way is a terrible stance to take at a comic book convention. Grow a pair and start talking.

So when we got there, this person was already there setting up his table in silence. I didn’t bother him and began setting up our stuff. About 3 hours into the show I was sitting there doing a sketch for someone when our neighbor got up to leave for some reason. I looked at him, thought he looked familiar and read his nametag. It was Lee Cherolis.

I was kicking myself for the next 20 minutes. I know Lee, I’ve met Lee, we’ve bought each other’s books, exchanged e-mails, he’s even got a pin-up in the Turtle vs. Bunny TPB. I felt like a word class douche bag for not saying hello.

When he got back I apologized and he said how he was waiting for things to settle down before saying anything. It was awkward but we had some good talks after finally realizing and admitting that we knew each other. In the old days I would have known who everyone was and what table number they were at, but it’s gotten to a point where people get wrapped up in their own stuff and forget to check the guest list. I gotta start paying more attention to the details.

Lee has a great project in the works about a Norse-like warrior. It’s called The Coldest Winter. It looks like Conan with a beard and a hammer in the snow. Really rugged stuff with Lee’s awesome pencils. A great combination. They’re pushing a preview right now but expect a printed comic from them by the summer time.

More to come. Thanks for reading!