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List Price: $19.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 9927
Released: September 23, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.80 |
| Used Price: $1.15 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
An accountant is introduced to a mysterious, sex-dating club known as The List by his lawyer friend. He becomes enthralled in this new lifestyle, but he soon becomes the prime suspect in a womanâ??s disappearance and a multimillion-dollar heist.
Description of Deception:
With its attractive cast and "stylish thriller" vibe, Deception is a much better movie than a raft of negative reviews might suggest--provided that you can suspend (if not completely discard) your disbelief and go along for the ride. The first feature by veteran commercial director Marcel Langenegger, it stars Ewan McGregor as Jonathan McQuarry, a mousy freelance tax auditor who’s taken under the wing of one Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), a slick, ultra-confident Manhattan lawyer. We know from jump that Jonathan’s new best friend isn’t all, or even any, that he seems, and sure enough, when the pair "accidentally" switch cell phones, a series of credibility-defying events destined to turn Jonathan’s bleak, lonely life upside down is set in motion. At first, it’s all good, as the wide-eyed young CPA finds himself joining "The List," a Wall Street sex club that brings together lawyers, stockbrokers, and other professionals whose lives are too busy for anything more than brief, anonymous assignations at various high-rent hotels (exchanging real names is verboten is this world). But apparently spending nights with the likes of Natasha Henstridge and Charlotte Rampling isn’t enough; when he meets the blonde beauty known only as "S" (Michelle Williams), the club’s credo of "intimacy without intricacy" goes out the window, lust turns to love, and Jonathan is drawn into a protracted cat-and-mouse game that leads to murder, big-time corporate embezzlement, identity switches, and other nefarious activity. One needn’t be Nostradamus to predict where all of this is headed, but that’s hardly the point. Even if you don’t buy a single moment of it, Deception is fun, flashy, and entertaining--and since when is pure escapism a bad thing? --Sam Graham
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Stills from Deception (Click for larger image) Deception Reviews:
Deception 
2009-10-28 - Leave your inghibitions at the door as Hugh Jackman (X-Men Trilogy) and Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) lure Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge) into a tangled web of lust and lies in this scorching thriller. Lonely, timid accountant Jonathan McQuarry (McGregor) lives only for his work - until a chance meeting with suave, charismnatic corporate lawyer Wyatt Bose (Jackman) introduces him to "The List". Suddenly, the right mobile phone number and the words "Are You Free Tonight?", launch Jonathan on a decadent journey of sexual conquests and self-discovery amidst New York's power elite. But an affair with a ravishing and mysterious stranger (Williams) will expose him to yet another world he never imagined: one of betrayal, treachery and murder!
Watching paint dry would be more exciting 
2009-10-19 - Despite a pedigreed cast, this boring and predictable thriller is short on thrills and feels much longer than it actually is. I had a sense of deja vu while watching it and realized that they plot is pretty similar to "Bad Influence" starring James Spader and Rob Lowe, which was just as bad. In a nutshell - gullible geek (Ewan MacGregor) is seduced into an alternate lifestyle by charismatic baddie (Hugh Jackman) and his life is never the same when he falls for a mysterious blonde (Michelle Williams).
ok until half the movie 
2009-08-13 - I was so happy with this movie until like half of it, then it turns so unrealistic that i felt stupid just because i was still watching it,(spiler ahead) guns and passports from nowhere and people finding each other in a very large city by coincidence and just at the right moment, they turned a very good movie into something so unreal that a 7 years old boy wouldnt buy it. just my two cents
Intimacy without intricacy
2009-08-12 - When quick friendship is struck between dorky accountant Jonathan McQuarry (McGregor) and suave, playboy lawyer Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), the relationship of leader and led, alpha and beta male, is quickly established. It's Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier, "Hey Spike, what do you want to do today!?" After some reefer, some tennis, and a bit of friendly banter, Wyatt not only gets Jonathan to admit to only having bedded four women in his lifetime, but also that rich women who are busy and horny are easy for simply those two reasons. When a lunch date produces a phone mix up, things get interesting.
If the secret club of Eyes Wide Shut had any appeal, it's rivaled by "The List" in Deception. Imagine if business aristocracy found Heidi Fleiss' little black book, erased the names, and then passed around the numbers to other like-mindedly promiscuous and prosperous. It sounds great until the immortal words of The Notorious B.I.G. are remembered, Mo Money Mo Problems. Too true, player, too true. When it comes to the expensive games the wealthy play, the numbers don't quite add up for Jonathan.
The reality of this movie is the same as actual reality: Most men probably want Hugh Jackman's life. Hell, most want his name alone. When said phonetically, it sounds like Huge Ackman, which is at the very least metaphorical.
Along with an interesting supporting performance from Michelle Williams, the combination of McGregor and Jackman really carry the film and distract enough from the plot-holes. McGregor absolutely nails the nerd role, and Jackman is completely shocking and sinister as antagonist.
The story and buildup of this movie are original enough to be somewhat enjoyable. The primary disappointment of the film is the obvious "surprise" ending. The twist is not quite the paint-by-the-numbers approach of the Ocean's Eleven series, but the double-double-cross is predictable enough to stretch beyond foreshadowing; it's FOURshadowed.
A rental for average film buffs, a must purchase for the optimistic sex addict.
No one is having any fun
2009-07-29 - This is one of those movies like 88 Minutes which you come to with low expectations and then it even dashes those expectations. Granted, no one is claiming that the sperm was taken out of the prostitute and put into a dead girl across town in order to perpetrate an elaborate frame. On the other hand, no one is claiming that sperm is being taken out of a dead prostitute. That would have perked up the movie a little too much.
The first problem with the movie is timing of the release. The Sum of All Fears (Special Collector's Edition) came out right after 9/11 and at the time the Russian policy towards the insurgency in Chechnya wasn't really on anyone's mind since the American policy towards the Taliban was the main debate. This movie comes along during the biggest crash since 1929 and the already hard sell of dashing accountants getting into the glitz and glamor of people who spend 15 hours at the office is impossible when those dashing financial analysts have just lost us all a ton of money.
But even without the bad timing, this is an atrocious piece of work. Hugh Jackman might as well be wearing a sign that says "I am the villain" the second he enters the frame. Ewan MacGregor does a fine job of playing an accountant who has had all vitality sucked out of him long ago. Unfortunately his character never gets that vitality back so we are caught between a mustache twirling Supervillain (not only can he plot against our hero but also read his mind to know almost everything he does) and a nebbish accountant who is just dead inside.
And Michelle Williams as the love interest is dull. When Natasha Hentridge and Charlotte Rampling are offering themselves up, I really can't see anyone falling for Michelle Williams (ok Heath did but he's dead from too many pills so what does that tell you?) She's just boring.
Note that I'm talking about the characters and the actors playing them. That's because the plot is so obvious and so inane that you see every major twist coming a mile away. When no one recognizes Hugh Jackman's character at the firm, only Ewan MacGregor doesn't find that strange. When the phones get switched and MacGregor is having great anonymous sex with gorgeous women who also work 15 hour days, he doesn't think to ask where everything is leading (of course, that's the gift horse in mouth syndrome but still) and once Hugh Jackman reveals his evil plan, it's kind of lame. And the last few twists where Ewan MacGregor is required to get a handle on the situation and turn the tables - not terribly believable either. Mostly because Ewan MacGregor is just the boring accountant from the beginning. I was so hoping for him to break into a Renton from Trainspotting - Director's Cut (Collector's Edition) but I guess he's method acting when he's playing the accountant without vitality.
Nothing special. I've seen better from all of these actors (even Michelle Williams) and I can't even recommend the sex club scenes as anything other than perfuntory.
