Continuing to get my Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine, Incendiary) fix, I caught the directorial debut of Marcel Langenegger, 2008’s Deception. While captivating initially with its slow, almost methodical building of suspense, this movie ultimately tries to outsmart itself by offering twist after twist after twist. By the time the movie crawled to its conclusion, we either figured out the twists, or they were so far-fetched and ridiculous that we didn’t care about them.
The movie’s protagonist, Jonathan (Ewan McGregor – The Impossible, A Life Less Ordinary), is a passionless auditor who works a day shift and then returns home to his apartment’s solitude. He has few hobbies and fewer acquaintances. Being contracted out to a local law firm, Jonathan meets Wyatt (Hugh Jackman – Logan, The Prestige), a calm and persuasive lawyer whose zest for life is something Jonathan is missing. The two quickly strike up a friendship. Wyatt smokes marijuana with Jonathan, takes him to his local country club and his upscale apartment, and introduces him to a city nightlife that he never knew existed. Soon, Jonathan wants to be less like himself and more like Wyatt.
The mystery begins when Wyatt inadvertently picks up Jonathan’s phone instead of his own. After discovering he has Wyatt’s phone, Jonathan calls his friend only to find out his new friend is already in London on a business trip. Beautiful and powerful women begin calling Jonathan, thinking they are talking to Wyatt on the other end of the line. It turns out Wyatt is part of an anonymous sex club and makes a call with the intent of meeting up for a night of passion before returning to their jobs the next day. Since most of these women have never met or talked to Wyatt, Jonathan has no problem stepping in and portraying his friend. “The List,” as it is explained to him by Charlotte Rampling (The Duchess, Swimming Pool), is a club for wealthy, powerful, and attractive people to meet up at upscale hotels. There is no small talk, no exchanging of names, and the sex can’t be rough. Whoever initiates the meeting is responsible for paying for the room. It seems easy enough, and Jonathan takes full advantage of membership in this new club.
Michelle Williams stars as “S,” one of the women Jonathan meets on the list. A mystery ensues when one of these three people goes missing. Although with a movie title like Deception, it isn’t hard to figure out that there will be some deceit and double-crossing along the way. The beginning of this movie sequence is fun because we know something went incredibly awful, yet we haven’t figured out any of the characters’ motives. Unfortunately, soon, it becomes reasonably predictable in some circumstances and absurd in others.
That’s enough for a back story. I didn’t give anything away here. If it sounds interesting, it will entertain you. But understand, it will be unrealistic, and the twists come rapidly. The ending is a bit extreme, considering the events that led up to that. Long after Deception should have ended, the twists kept coming. It makes you roll your eyes, but whatever, that’s what Langenegger wanted. It failed more than succeeded because of that.
I would tell most to pass unless you can suspend your disbelief and take the movie for what it is…a 90-minute escape.
Plot 6/10
Character Development 6/10
Character Chemistry 7.5/10
Acting 7.5/10
Screenplay 6/10
Directing 6/10
Cinematography 6/10
Sound 5/10 (sound is vital to any suspense…I recall no eerie music, long periods of silence, etc. At the same time, there was no cheesy, meaningless background music)
Hook and Reel 7.5/10 (I don’t remember anything out of the ordinary, but the movie kept my attention the whole time)
Universal Relevance .5/10 (sorry…99.9999% of the people in this world would never find themselves anywhere close to this situation)
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