“I’d also argue that Duplicity hit the zeitgeist slightly wrong,” Variety‘s Anne Thompson wrote on 4.2. “Greenlit before the recession, the movie painted a portrait of rapacious uncaring corporations and workaholic ambitious untrusting spies that may have cut just a little too close to the bone at a time when anxious Americans are seeking escape, fun and comfort.
“[Director-writer Tony] Gilroy is a smart cookie whose next film I look forward to seeing. While he has every right to chase Hollywood budgets and status, I’d prefer to see him go back to the Michael Clayton model: lower budget, stars at a cut-rate price, and the freedom to throw off the shackles of trying to please the suits.”
