Thriller falters on many fronts
"Deception" had originally been titled "The List."
So now, this would-be thriller not only has a listless title, but a clunky and meandering plot, ugly cinematography, transparent characters, superfluous slow-motion shots and two adversaries who say "Trust me!"
"Deception" begins as an intriguing drama about a secret sex club among the elite of Wall Street, powerful executives who have desires but no time for attachments.
By the third act, "Deception" devolves into a torpid high-tech bank heist involving Ewan McGregor's nerdy accountant, who must steal millions from secret corporate accounts or else Hugh Jackman's villainous con artist will kill his girlfriend.
"Girlfriend" might be stretching labels. McGregor's Jonathan McQuarry doesn't even know the woman's name. She (Michelle Williams) goes by the initial "S," presumably taking her lead from "The Story of O" in using only a single letter to identify a female sex object.
"Deception" begins with McQuarry auditing the books of New York's biggest companies. A lonely, dull and bored man, McQuarry instantly befriends garrulous attorney Wyatt Bose (Jackman). They enjoy an evening smoking pot and trading jokes.
When they leave, each accidentally takes the other's identical cell phone. What a coincidence! Bose has already left for London when McQuarry notices the switch.
McQuarry receives calls from women asking "Are you free tonight?" When curiosity overtakes him, he accepts a woman's offer for a night of unrestrained, liberating sex. He has stumbled onto "The List," a club of high rollers who roll into hotel beds with strangers from their own socio-economic class.
For the first time in his pathetic life, McQuarry hops into the sack with Hugh Hefner-esque regularity, trysting the night away with hotties such as Natasha "Species" Henstridge and Charlotte "The Night Porter" Rampling.
Nothing prepares him for meeting a fetching blonde who goes by the initial "S." McQuarry falls in love with this mysterious creature.
One night in a hotel room with S, he goes to get some ice. When he returns, he discovers blood on the sheets. Then a masked figure knocks him out. When McQuarry wakes up, "S" has vanished and the cops can't find any evidence of foul play, or confirm the existence of "S."
If "Deception" had stopped right here and stayed with its secret sex society premise, it might have maintained a marginal amount of salacious interest.
But the story veers off into a sub-routine blackmail and extortion plot with a dumbed-down script and story "twists" telegraphed with ker-thudding obviousness. (The superintendent constantly reminds us he's coming to fix the leak in McQuarry's apartment. Yet, when he does, the movie then wants us to believe it's not him.)
Idiotic isn't a word to be lightly thrown around in a film review, but here it fits. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to one of two attache cases filled with $10 million that inexplicably vanishes during a climactic scene in Spain. The film never bothers to explain where it went.
"Deception" marks the ill-fated directorial debut of TV commercial maker Marcel Langenegger, whose scenes pack all the tension and crackle of boiled linguini.
Washed in an unappetizing hues of gray-green blues, "Deception" is also a sore sight for the eyes. It may no longer be called "The List," but it's easily on my hit list.
"Deception"
1½ stars
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams
Directed by: Marcel Langenegger
Other: A 20th Century Fox release. Rated R for sexual situations, language, violence, drug use. 108 minutes.