DUPLICITY **½

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy this comedy/romance/thriller stars: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, and Paul Giamatti. Rated PG-13 for language and some sexual content. Running time is two hours and five minutes.

Two spies-turned-corporate operatives (Roberts and Owen) are also in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they find themselves embroiled in a high-stakes espionage game, (between the companies headed by Wilkinson and Giamatti) they discover the toughest part of the job is deciding how much to trust the one you love.

Unfortunately, what we have here is a very fine cast saddled with a muddled plot. The film tries way too hard to be clever but just ends up being confusing. It's also too long by a good half hour. Initially, I tried to keep up with the time jumps but finally gave up and hoped it would all make sense by the end. It does resolve although probably not the way you're expecting, but it would have so much better and probably much shorter if they'd just told the story in a straightforward manner. It's nice to see Roberts again after five years and she and Owen have good screen chemistry. It's just too bad they didn't have a better vehicle for her return.