About Susan Kandell
Location: Dallas
Occupation: filmmaker, film fest admin.
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Posts: 51
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“Are you free tonight?” The last time someone uttered those words in my ear, it was a simple enough question, with an equally simple answer. “Sure, let’s go catch a movie and grab a slice of pizza”. But in Deception those four words are much more evocative.
It opens in the boardroom of a typical Manhattan high-end office. Corporate auditor Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor doing his best Clark Kent imitation) is a genius at balancing the books but not as adept at balancing his life. His work is his life and at the moment, his dance card is empty. What’s worse, it doesn’t look like there’s anything on the horizon.
Like a strong cup of espresso, things perk up with the late night arrival of Wyatt Bose (the always entertaining Hugh Jackman). He’s the distraction you fear, but can’t turn away from, and he brought a joint with him. Now how can the lonely corporate auditor turn down the magnetic corporate lawyer who’s holding some premium Maui-Waui? He can’t help it, he likes symmetry.
Pretty soon, Jonathan and Wyatt are buddies; playing tennis, sharing lunch boxes, until one day, Wyatt carelessly switches cell phones. Now you and I have seen enough movies in our lifetime to know that if a close-up is made of any particular item, you can be sure that said item is going to play a large role in the story. And so it does. This isn’t any cell phone, mind you. It comes loaded with “the list.” A series of four digit numbers, when dialed lead to the participants of a sex club. When the words, “Are you free tonight?” are invoked, well, let the games begin. With the right twist on some clever advertising, I think Verizon could use this as a marketing tool.
And so begins the emancipation of Jonathan, who doubles the number of conquests that he has had in a lifetime in the first week he possess the magic phone. At this rate, by the end of the month he would have blisters on his thumb and have to change his calling plan. Only Jonathan doesn’t want the “intimacy without intricacy”. What he wants is a relationship. Enter “S” or #4329 (or the blond that looks just a little like a young Fran Drescher, without the nasalness), Michelle Williams, a throwback of the mysterious femme fatales of yesteryear. She’s a keeper, only this isn’t how the game is supposed to be played.
Director Marcel Langenegger makes his feature film debut with Deception. He incorporates all the elements of a sleek thriller - betrayal, treachery, murder and sex. So how come I’m not on the edge of my seat? For one thing, it pushes credibility to the limit time after time. And then tacks on a Hollywood ending.
Now if you don’t mind a storyline with holes large enough to stick a cell phone through, you might go for the performances. Tony Award® winning, Australian native, Jackman plays Wyatt with just the right touch of charm and manipulation. You know that bottle of snake oil is firmly ensconced in his breast pocket. And there are enough pretty high-powered Wall Street women wearing Victoria’s Secret thongs under their business suits to keep the guys happy.
But the real star of the show is New York City. Anytime I can spend two hours in my hometown without having to pay for a ticket on American Airlines, I’m one happy gal.
