There are always movies that seem to get lost and buried by other more popular new releases. Sometimes it is a good thing that the movies get lost since they turn out to be really bad. Other times it happens to some very good movies which is a shame. Deception did not have all the publicity of some other recent releases, but it turned out to be a good mystery type of movie.

Jonathan McQuarry worked long hours performing audits at different companies. The employees of the different companies tended to keep their distance from him and he didn’t have much of a life away from work because of the long hours he put in. Wyatt Bose, an attorney at a firm where Jonathan was doing an audit, took the time to talk to him and the two men quickly developed a friendship.

Jonathan envied how confidant Wyatt was and his way with women. Jonathan accidentally picked up Wyatt’s phone before he had to leave the country. That night, he received a phone call from a woman who he ended up having sex with. Jonathan later discovered that Wyatt was part of a sex club. Wyatt told Jonathan to use the phone while he was gone when the two finally did talk. Jonathan didn’t waste any time and had sex with several different women. He developed an interest in one of the women he met through the list that he only knew as S. She seemed to return his interest. Jonathan came to realize that things were not what they seemed after S vanished and he found himself in the middle of a huge mess.

Deception was a mystery movie that had a few twists. It didn’t surprise me when a few things happened, and some viewers could think that the movie is predictable. The title is actually a bit of a clue, something that has happened with some other mystery movies in the past. I thought that the mystery was interesting and it made for an entertaining movie. I did figure out something fairly early, but I still enjoyed the movie overall. Even with what I did figure out ahead of time, I still felt that there were a few surprises that I didn’t expect.

I thought that Deception had an interesting plot. Things did start off slowly and that did cause some scenes to drag. Even once more started to happen, the movie kept a slower pace which will probably bother some people. I wouldn’t be surprised if some viewers quickly get bored with the slower pace. The movie started off showing Jonathan working so late that he was just about the only one there except for the cleaning crew. That minute or two before Wyatt turned up quickly showed that Jonathan put in a lot of long hours. As the movie progressed, I wasn’t sure what was going on for a while even though I was pretty sure something was going to happen.

****Possible Minor Spoilers****
I want to discuss a few things that did bother me about Deception. I am not going to mention anything too specific, but what I do need to mention would be minor spoilers for people who haven’t seen the movie yet. People that are wanting to see the movie should skip the next paragraph.

Certain things that happened later in the movie did open up a few plot holes or inconsistencies. I wasn’t overly bothered by them, but the movie would have been stronger and just better overall without them. A couple of things kept bugging me a bit after the movie was over. It had been established that Jonathan couldn’t see much without his glasses. A few shots showed things from his perspective without the glasses and everything was blurry. He was never shown with contacts and he never mentioned wanting them. Late in the movie, he turned up somewhere without glasses and he had no trouble seeing or even signing his name. With everything that was going on at that point, I don’t think he had the time to run to the eye doctor to get contacts. He was working with a very limited time frame, and I just don’t think it is possible to get contacts that fast. Also late in the movie, a character turned up, after just a couple of days, with a fake passport. That particular character didn’t seem like the type of person to have the type of connections necessary to get a fake passport. I’m also questioning if it would even be possible to get a fake passport that fast. There were a few other small plot holes that turned up as well, but they didn’t stand out to me as much for some reason.

****End of Possible Minor Spoilers****

There were many sexual elements throughout Deception. I do think the movie was supposed to be an erotic thriller, somewhat along the lines of Basic Instinct. I don’t think it really met that goal since the mystery wasn’t as strong and there really wasn’t a lot of suspense. Most of the sexual elements were connected to the sex club that Jonathan found himself taking part in. With the long hours he worked, he really didn’t have time for relationships. Add his shyness to that and it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t have an active sex life and was a bit envious when he saw Wyatt meeting a beautiful woman at a hotel. It also wasn’t surprising that Jonathan took full advantage of having access to the sex club once he figured out what it was and how it worked. There were a few short scenes that showed him with different women and there was a small amount of female nudity. The scenes weren’t overly graphic, but they might bother some people. The sex scenes along with the swearing that some characters did caused the movie to be rated R.

At one point, some rules associated with the sex club were shared, like how they never exchanged names and which person was responsible for getting the hotel room. It seemed like the club was meant for busy, successful people who just didn’t have the time for dating because of all the hours they worked. There was never any mention of safe sex or using any sort of birth control. In this day and age, with all the sexually transmitted diseases, it just didn’t seem right that safe sex was not part of the rules.

There were really just three characters that were developed or had much of anything to do. Wyatt and Jonathan were the two main characters with Jonathan receiving a bit more attention than Wyatt. Jonathan was a shy, timid man who seemed to be a geek. He didn’t seem to have friends and he didn’t have much experience with women, so he was happy to take advantage of the sex club. He was a bit gullible about certain things. He was a nice guy overall. Ewan McGregor handled the part well, though it was a bit different to see him play such a geeky character.

Wyatt was a suave, confident man who bragged about being with so many women he couldn’t remember the exact count. He befriended Jonathan and got him involved in the sex club in a round about way after they ended up trading phones by accident. There was more to Wyatt than there seemed to be at first. Hugh Jackman was very good in the part. It was different from the other parts I’ve seen him in. S was only in a few scenes. She and Jonathan didn’t spend that much time together, but they had a strong bond. Their relationship wasn’t the most believable. Michelle Williams was fine in the part. The other characters that turned up were only briefly in the movie and weren’t developed at all. Maggie Q and Natasha Henstridge turned up in short scenes.

Main Cast

Hugh Jackman - Wyatt Bose
Ewan McGregor - Jonathan McQuarry
Michelle Williams - S

Marcel Langenegger - Director

Deception had a few issues but still managed to be a good, entertaining movie. It had a decent mystery, though there wasn’t a lot of suspense. Fans of the cast may enjoy the movie.

This is one I would have given three and a half stars to if I had the option. Since I don’t, I decided to round up to four.

Hugh Jackman Movie Reviews
Flushed Away ~ Happy Feet ~ Kate and Leopold ~ The Prestige ~ Scoop ~ Van Helsing ~ X-Men ~ X2: X-Men United ~ X-Men: The Last Stand ~


Recommended: Yes