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| 'Deception’ hides a limp tale under sexy gloss | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Craig Outhier, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| April 24, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Alas, this admonition comes too late for Marcel Langenegger, the style-forward Swiss filmmaker who makes his feature directorial debut on “Deception” and promptly runs it aground on a false-climax jetty littered with the likes of “Color of Night,” “Wild Orchid” and “Basic Instinct 2.” It’s a cold, emotionally vacant place, but, hey, at least there’s plenty of sex. From the outset, the cast seems undermatched by the material. Ewan McGregor, in full-on milquetoast mode, plays Jonathan McQuarry, a lonely, sexually frustrated accountant who lives out of a suitcase and casts sad, longing stares across crowded rooms at women he knows he’ll never score. The cute Latina janitor? Out of his league. The white-collar babe (Michelle Williams from “Brokeback Mountain”) on the subway? No chance. Jonathan is blocked. And gullible? Oh gosh, yes. When manly, cocksure attorney Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman, credible as a villain) implausibly offers a hand of friendship to the nervous number cruncher, Jonathan never senses the ulterior motive. It’s a pickup, see, designed to lure Jonathan into the sticky throes of an underground sex clique where, with a simple phone call, busy New York professionals can meet for anonymous sex in swanky hotel rooms. Known as “the list,” it even has its own, “Fight Club”-style ground rules. No first names. No business talk. Initiator pays for the room. What’s a pimply nerd to do? Armed with Wyatt’s “misplaced” cell phone and a borrowed designer suit, Jonathan leaps cheap-haircut-first into a shadowy, smoke-filled playground of strings-free sex, landing a statuesque financial analyst (Natasha Henstridge) and a seasoned Wall Street doyenne (Charlotte Rampling). It’s all very nocturnal and moody, but do we catch a contact buzz from Jonathan’s queasy, arousing exploits? Not really. Deploying the 60-something Rampling (“Swimming Pool”) as heavy sexual munitions proves misguided on the part of Langenegger. Intended as wrinkle-blind kink, it just feels kind of pervy. Ultimately, Jonathan puts the brakes on his sexual spelunking when he gets paired with the mystery woman from the subway, and the ensuing intrigue — something to do with blackmail, murder and illicit wire transfers — is unsoundly and hastily built on their crazy, irrational, take-it-to-the limit love. You know, the kind that needs no explanation, or substance. Ironically, the only authentic-feeling moment between McGregor and Williams comes when they’re unclothed. The rest of the time, they’re clearly faking it. ‘Deception’ Cast: Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Charlotte Rampling Behind the scenes: Directed by Marcel Langenegger, from a script by Mark Bomback Rating: R (sexual content, profanity, brief violence and some drug use); 108 minutes — Grade: D+ Contact Craig Outhier by email, or phone (480) 898-5683 |
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