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Deception

Unimaginative erotic thriller

By BETSY SHERMAN | April 30, 2008

1.0 Stars

Michelle Williams and Hugh Jackman in Deception

This anemic erotic thriller boasts a plot that’s every bit as unimaginative as its title. Minus its cellphone gimmick, it could have been made in 1988, starred D-listers Andrew Stevens and James Remar, and gone straight to Cinemax. Instead, it stars A-listers Hugh Jackman as the cat and Ewan McGregor as the bespectacled mouse. Gregarious lawyer Wyatt (Jackman) gives lonely, itinerant audit manager Jonathan (McGregor) a peek at fast-lane life after office hours. A phone mix-up precipitates Jonathan’s initiation into an elite sex club through which Wall Street types engage in no-strings shagging. Michelle Williams plays the winsome bait with which Wyatt strong-arms the accountant into cooking the books. The performance arcs are blunted and familiar, and McGregor is frustratingly superficial (as usual). Director Marcel Langenegger has a way with a nocturnal urban landscape, but his feature debut goes splat on the pavement. 108 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle/Chestnut Hill + suburbs

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