Deception (2008/I)

Director:

Marcel Langenegger

Writer (WGA):

Mark Bomback (written by)

Release Date:

25 April 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

When you're in this world, no one is who they seem, and everyone is playing the game.

Plot:

An accountant is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend. But in this new world, he soon becomes the prime suspect in a woman's disappearance and a multi-million dollar heist.

Plot Keywords:

Club | Sex Club | Sex | Cell Phone | Auditor

Cast

Ewan McGregor	...	Jonathan McQuarry
Hugh Jackman	...	Wyatt Bose
Michelle Williams	...	S
Bruce Altman	...	Lawyer #1
Andrew Ginsburg	...	Lawyer #2
Stephanie Roth Haberle	...	Assistant Controller
Christine Kan	...	Tennis Player #1
Dante Spinotti	...	Herr Kleiner / Mr. Moretti
Karolina Muller	...	Waitress (as Karolina Müller)
Agnete Oernsholt	...	Woman at Waldorf Astoria
Melissa Rae Mahon	...	Velvet Rope Dancer #1
Rachel Montez Collins	...	Velvet Rope Dancer #2
Holly Cruikshank	...	Velvet Rope Dancer #3
Deborah Yates	...	Tango Dancer
Bill Camp	...	Clancey Controller

Also Known As:

The List (USA) (working title)
The Tourist (USA) (working title)
Untitled Hugh Jackman Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, language, brief violence and some drug use.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA | Ireland:16 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #43789) | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:M18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Taiwan:R-12 (original rating) | Ireland:15 (video rating) | Netherlands:12 | Italy:T | France:U | Finland:K-13 | South Korea:18 | Japan:PG-12 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:12 (DVD rating) | Iceland:14 | Mexico:B15 | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Bryant Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Seed Productions

Trivia:

Earlier titles of the film included The List and The Tourist.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the movie when Ewan McGregor's character walks to the Madrid square to meet Michelle Williams' character, in the first shot Ewan wears a white T-shirt under his green V-neck sweater and in the next shots he doesn't.

Quotes:

Jonathan McQuarry: [after having sex with a woman in The List] Can I ask you something? Why do you do this?
Wall Street Belle: For the same reason that men do it - the economics of the arrangement. It's intimacy without intricacy. I work past midnight almost every night.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-04-26)" (2008)

A basic instinct not quite dressed to kill

Have you ever longed for a bit more excitement in your life? Many of us have. Especially, it seems, introverted and slightly nerdy Jonathan McQuarry, an audit manager played by Ewan McGregor.

McGregor is a high flyer, checking the books for top Wall Street firms. There's only one problem. He doesn't have a life. Zero social world, and near zero sexual escapades to look back with his mates. Assuming he had any. Which he doesn't. Accountants are wary of him for the few weeks when he looks at their figures. And to everyone else he's just a temporary fixture.

Until smoothly tailored Wyatt Bose breezes onto the scene. A spliff, a game of tennis, and an accidental swapping of mobile phone handsets puts McQuarry in line for more sex, deception and perilous living than Little Red Riding Hood in heat checking out the bear pit.

In the opening scene, McQuarry is alone in a majestic Manhattan skyscraper, only the cleaners in the background (behind glass doors). The camera traverses the splendid skylines. All is framed to perfection, both visually and to establish the characters and storyline. So when the plot moves into Basic Instinct territory, you are not surprised to see lovers pictured in postcard perfection. Standing in the rain. Or having is sex in those geometrically interesting positions. And lighting that just happens to show off their lovely skin tones and delicately arranged shadows.

Director of photography Dante Spinotti (The Insider, L.A. Confidential, Heat) uses a high-tech Panavision Genesis digital video camera for the night scenes, capturing colours and detail in a way where film falls short. "The Genesis has a much stronger sensitivity," Spinotti explains, "so it can read in the shadows much more than film does." I spent much time admiring the photography. It was more interesting than the story. Shifting dodgy funds about electronically is hardly visceral viewing. So we have a mysterious sex-club that McQuarry stumbles into. He meets high-profile women whose lives are too busy for relationships.

Queue meaningless sex. No names. No work talk. The initiator, male or female, pays the hotel. The only important words being, "Are you free tonight?" McQuarry is emotionally attracted in one encounter – against the rules. Her name begins with S. She's blonde, leggy, and played by Michelle Willliams (Brokeback Mountain, She's Not There). Soon the games begin, and you won't be surprised to learn they include blackmail and large amounts of moola.

To give Deception its due, the intrigue does develop in ways I hadn't expected. I just wish I could have cared enough about the characters to ignore the plot holes and lack of any real depth or substance. As a thriller, a piece of soft porn, or a character study, Deception is room temperature. Luscious visuals are poor compensation for a contrived and unengrossing story. It passes the time well enough and makes a competent debut feature for director Marcel Langenegger, but Spinotti needs worthier projects and McGregor and Williams need to show that they are serious about acting.

Some of the best lines used the f-word – so well suited to McGregor's well-modulated and slightly posh voice (when he can maybe seem almost like a more buff version of the very proper Hugh Grant). He sadly he doesn't get to say them, but his co-stars do.

Deception makes for a pleasantly titillating hour and a half but, much like a drunken one-night stand, it would be silly to take it too seriously.