Deception
*1/2
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Warner Village (Birkenhead Conway Park)
Released in the UK by Buena Vista on June 23, 2000; certificate 15; 98 minutes;
country of origin USA; aspect ratio 2.35:1
Directed by John Frankenheimer; produced
by Mary Katz, Chris Moore, Bob Weinstein.
Written by Ehren Kruger.
Photographed by Alan Caso; edited by Tony Gibbs, Michael
Kahn.
CAST.....
Ben Affleck..... Rudy
Charlize Theron..... Ashley
Gary Sinise..... Gabriel
Clarence Williams III..... Merlin
James Frain..... Nick
Dennis Farina..... Jack Bangs
Isaac Hayes..... Zook
It was a stroke of good fortune that the screening
of "Deception" I attended was empty, save for my companion
and I. We had the opportunity to cackle at the film's absurdities and loudly
point out inconsistencies of the plot. Companion found the film to be a guilty
pleasure; I thought it was plain lame. I think he is confusing the enjoyment
of verbally mocking the movie with the actual entertainment value of the
picture itself.
No matter. The agreed point is that "Deception",
which was originally titled "Reindeer Games", is ludicrous junk with aspirations
of being a tightly-wound thriller. Ben Affleck stars as a Grand Theft Auto
convict scheduled for release on the same day as his best friend, a manslaughter
perp played by James Frain. Frain has been communicating with a beautiful
pen-pal (Charlize Theron) who he has never met, but plans to hook up with
once he gets out of the slammer. When he gets involved in a brawl, though,
Affleck receives news that he has been killed, and decides to take his
place.
Bad idea. Affleck meets with Theron, introduces
himself as Frain, and the pair have much sex and buy many clothes. But a
hood played by Gary Sinise, who claims to be Theron's brother, hijacks their
love affair and demands Affleck's assistance in holding up a casino. He knows
that Frain worked in the place he wants to rob, thinks that Affleck is Frain,
and wants his knowledge of the security arrangements.
Affleck at this point protests that he is not
Frain. There is no possible reason he would make that up, but Sinise chooses
to ignore him, and violently forces him to write down everything he knows
about the casino layout. Affleck has to invent one out of thin air, but somehow
he gets every detail right. That sounds ridiculous, but such developments
are commonplace in "Deception". My favourite plot point is Sinise's plan
for the heist. Affleck asks him "Won't it seem a bit suspicious when six
guys in ski masks walk into a place full of money carrying machine guns?"
The response: "No, dummy! It's Christmas time! We dress like Santa Claus!"
Uh-huh. So it will be perfectly inconspicuous when six Santa Clauses walk
into a place full of money carrying machine guns?
Many things that seem like plot holes are explained
in the finale, in one of those speeches where the villain holds the hero
at gunpoint and spells out his entire plan, giving the hero a chance to contrive
an escape. But even when we clarify what's going on, things are still
unbelievably farfetched. If you see "Deception", think through the logic
of its final revelations, and ask yourself if they form a plausible criminal
plan. Not that the movie can only be rejected after deep thought -- its
foolishness is obvious on the surface. This is a film in which a canteen
of prison inmates suddenly all find cockroaches in their lunches, and freak
out, under the guidance of Isaac Hayes, by jumping up and down, shouting
"Zrrg!" And Sinise and his band of merry men look like Metallica roadies
who turned evil after not getting paid.
On the other hand, no film featuring a naked Charlize
Theron can be all that bad.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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