I love it when a guy like Tony Gilroy finally gets his shot at the big time. After writing a string of semi-successful films that all seemed to attract top talent (See: Dolores Claiborne, The Devil's Advocate, Proof of Life), Gilroy wrote this little action adaptation that starred the kid from Good Will Hunting, a film that most thought would tank... but came far from it. The Bourne Identity became a smashing success, with Gilroy writing the other two adaptations of Ludlum's books and then, when it came time for Gilroy to make his directorial debut with a little film starring George Clooney that most had never heard of called Michael Clayton, the film came out of nowhere to secure 7 Oscar nominations and a place for Gilroy on the filmmaker-to-watch list, at least for me. His directorial follow-up, Duplicity, shows a much lighter side to Gilroy's diverse wheelhouse and it's just a ton of fun to watch.

Duplicity is a light and rather playful take on the spy genre with two spies on opposite sides that fell in love and decide to pull off the proverbial "one last job" before living a life of luxury together. The film is told in sort of dual timelines, with the main story moving forward but interrupted by these flashbacks that get closer and closer to the present. While the film is a tad hard to follow - pretty much my only beef with the film - we learn that Ray Koval (Clive Owen) was an MI:6 agent and Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) was a CIA agent and they both had a one-night stand that didn't end up so good for Ray, as she played him for information he had stowed in his hotel room. They meet again, years later, and another tryst ensues and they begin talking about settling down together... which means they'll need a lot of money to stay off the grid, which means pulling off aforementioned one last score to live the high life for the rest of their lives. The game they decide on is a nasty corporate rivalry between Bob Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and Richard Garsik (Paul Giamatti), with one on each side of the game... and either one that doesn't completely trust the other one.

For someone so well-versed in crafting more serious stories throughout his whole career, writer-director Tony Gilroy shows he definitely has a flair for the lighter side of cinema as well. It's a delightfully breezy tale that doesn't take itself too seriously and weaves this cat-and-mouse tale so effectively you're constantly wondering how the whole thing will play out. While he plays off the level of distrust that spies would naturally have, he practically plays the same game with the viewer, keeping us guessing until the very end, with a rather brilliant ending that I can't say that I saw coming. I was a tad surprised that this was dumped into theaters in March, with this high-powered cast and rather light story, because it seemed like a perfect summer flick, but then after watching it I realized that it's one of those darn movies that keeps you on your toes and requires a bit of thought, which isn't exactly fodder for the summer season. Regardless, this is still quite a clever little film that shows Tony Gilroy is here to stay as both a writer and director. This is only his second directorial outing - his follow-up to the phenomenal drama Michael Clayton - and I hope that Gilroy continues to mix it up with his storytelling and direction. We know he can write a wonderful action film with the Bourne films, but I'd love to see him write and direct a new action tale next, because I really love his style.

Clive Owen is a guy that I'm surprised isn't bigger than he is. He really is quite a fine actor and when he's alongside talent like Julia Roberts here, it just makes him even better. Owen and Roberts both shine here, and it was probably one of Roberts' best performance in the past few years. She's had quite an odd string of films after Ocean's Eleven (I loved Charlie Wilson's War but she annoyed me in the film) and it seems this performance brings us back to the Julie Roberts we all came to know and love. Owen also gives one of his more diverse performances to date here - you kind of have to when you're playing a spy - and his overall distrust of Claire, despite loving her, is a lot of fun to watch here.

Duplicity is a terrifically fun summer film that's disguised as an intelligent spy film where no on trusts anyone in the cutthroat world of corporate one-upping. It's a delightful flick with fun performances all around including writer-director Tony Gilroy, who goes against his serious side with a very fun film.

All we get here is a commentary track with Tony Gilroy and editor/co-producer John Gilroy. If you've read my reviews before, you know I hate commentaries, so, as far as I'm concerned, there are no special features here...

The film is presented in the anamorphic widescreen format, in the super-wide 2.40:1 aspect ratio.

The audio is handled through the Dolby Digital 5.1 format.

There's a little too much white space here, at least on the front, but it's not too bad. The front has a shot of Roberts in the top left, one of Owen in the bottom right, a title card above Owen's shot, two small random pics and a critic quote... and there's still way too much white space. The back has another quote, a larger shot of Roberts and Owen, a slick synopsis, four smaller random pics from the flick, a very very small "bonus feature" listing and the billing block and tech specs. Not too bad, but the front needs some work.

Duplicity is a delightful cat-and-mouse game filled with superb performances and proves that Tony Gilroy's directorial prowess we saw in Michael Clayton was certainly no fluke.