Duplicity...

[fajrdrako]

Went yesterday to see the movie Duplicity with Pat, Sandi, and Lyn.

It was one of many movies that had all of us us (sitting in the last row) laughing very shortly into the movie - we thought it witty and funny. The rest of the audience didn't laugh till practically the end. Do Canadians not laugh? How could they not?

Okay, it's not a rollicking comedy. It's witty and wry. Clever. Snarky. The plot: two spies (Clive Owen and Julia Roberts) meet and sleep together. Then all sorts of things happen, everyone is tricking everyone else (or not), there's industrial espionage and a mysterious formula that everyone wants, and it's a safe bet that most of the characters are lying most of the time, while the movie is trying to trick the audience into mis-guessing who is doing what to whom and why. And mostly it succeeds, which it can do, because the characters all know more than we do.

As we left the theatre, Sandi said, "That was like Ocean's Eleven, only with a couple instead of a group." Yup. Good call. Except I liked it better; Ocean's Eleven bored me.

Comments

[abrakadabrah.livejournal.com]

If you were deeply bored, why didn't you leave the theatre?

I was with someone who wasn't bored. Also, hope blooms eternal. Maybe it would get better. Also, I like to finish things - going to the movies is different that way than flipping around the tv. I might have left had I been by myself.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I was with someone who wasn't bored.

Ugh. Always tricky.

Also, hope blooms eternal. Maybe it would get better.

One can always hope! The plot ended up being really disappointing, I thought, though I liked the visual of Owen and Roberts sitting in the Rome hotel with a "What happened?" look on each of their faces. It was really incredibly superficial, all of it.

I might have left had I been by myself.

I have left movies, usually due to illness. I have slept in movies. I tend to do as you did - stick with it in the hopes it will get better, but once you're halfway through a dull movie, it rarely does.

I have walked out on movies a few times, but not as often as some of them deserved. Maybe it's self-punishment: Having wasted $10, I'm determined to waste a full two hours of my time as well, to make it worth the cost? I can only remember walking out on a play once.

At least I didn't hate Duplicity enough to want to leave. But I'd never want to see it again.