Two double agents infiltrate rival soap companies in order to create chaos between them and reap the benefits.
Somewhere between the Bourne films, and Knight and Day, lies this film starring Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. They each play covert spies who are highly trained in the art of corporate espionage and infiltration. Having worked for the bigger boys, like MI5, the pair crossed paths during an operation, and develop a confusing relationship completely based upon mistrust of the other.
The film sees the two getting heavily involved in two companies, one owned by Paul Giamatti and the other by Tom Wilkinson, which are at utter war with each other, constantly undermining the other, and trying to discover their secrets. When Wilkinson’s company announces a top secret new idea which will change the cosmetics industry, Giamatti pulls out all the stops to get his hands on it, and the pair of spies, Owen and Roberts prepare to clean up.
It is a confusingly complicated film, that fails to develop into a rich story. The personal journeys of the characters are typically bland, and the inevitability of the ending was painful. None of the performances were particular great, although Giamatti added a certain gravitas to the proceedings. The relationship between Roberts and Owen is conventional, making sweeping statements about the need for trust that are redundant.
Some moments were pretty tense, and there was an atmosphere of impending turmoil, that made it entertaining…somewhat, but in all, it was a pointless film. The characters were unappealing, the story was predictably unmoving, and the social commentary of our untrusting nature made for a lukewarm attempt at depth.
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