Deception
User Score
4.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 19
  3. Negative: 6 out of 19

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  1. PKO
    May 3, 2008
    4
    Chad S. Nails it perfectly with a 4! As I left the theatre I thought "If you want to see this movie done well, see The Spanish Prisoner by David Mamet." It is all this film was not: clever and intriguing. I'd gladly watch Ewan McGregor or Hugh Jackman make toast for 2 hours, but this film tries the patience since is could have been so much more and, ultimately, is nothing at all. Even the sex is not that hot, which is difficult to manage considering who is involved. Rental? Maybe on a slow night alone, in January.… Expand
  2. ChrisW.
    Apr 29, 2008
    7
    While Deception might have been contrived and improbable at best, it was also both remarkably beautiful and fascinatingly ugly simultaniously. Both Jackman and McGregor deliver dynamic performances that refuse to be ignored. And who really gives a crap if it delivers too few plot twists? Many critics have lately been complaining of too many plot twists. Is there a specific number of twists a plot should have?… Expand
  3. QuinH.
    May 15, 2010
    7
    Highly underrated! If you like thrillers and dont mind nudity with women then watch it!!!!
  4. JayH
    Sep 18, 2008
    5
    The plot is far fetched, the story is uninvolving and for a thriller, it has too many slow stretches. Well made technically, the stars are bland.
  5. ChadS.
    Apr 26, 2008
    4
    If "Deception" was a European production, first of all, there would be more sex. Waaaay more sex. Even if a dead body, or two, turned up, it wouldn't stop the French, or the Swedes, or the Krauts, from f****** like bunnies, and not feeling guilty about it the next morning. If "Deception" was a Tootsie Roll Pop, we'd want to know how many licks it would take to get to the center. But "Deception" doesn't want to be graphic like a sucker. The film lacks the tongue for it. In other words, we never find out how many anonymous sexual encounters it would take before Jonathan McQuarry(Ewan McGregor) got sick of "The List". That's because "Deception" would rather be a second-rate version of David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner", as the film turns into a sort of Hitchcockian coitus interruptus. Since the film ignores the potential for irony(an irony that a European production might've strived for): a lonely man who ends up lonelier, even though he's always surrounded by beautiful, willing women; for the love of God, I thought, please don't let Wyatt Bose(Hugh Jackman) turn out to be imaginary. Please don't let this sex club be like "Fight Club". But such a banality is all relative. Regardless of Wyatt's true identity and motive for befriending Jonathan, "Deception", like most contemporary mainstream American films, fails to deal with sexual themes in a methodologically serious fashion.… Expand
  6. BillyS.
    Apr 27, 2008
    4
    This must be one of those movies that has been on the shelf for three years and they decided to release it now when there is nothing else out there to compete with it. It was better on the shelf!
  7. JaySupertramp
    Feb 7, 2012
    4
    Half of the movie was like a porn and the other half was predictable. A waste of good actors for a simple and boring plot. It didnt thrill me at all...

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
31 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 23
  3. Negative: 12 out of 23
  1. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Sam Sweet
    60
    This vision of Gotham is as fastidious as the cockpit of a BMW. But rather than sell luxury sedans, Deception offers a fantasy even big money can't buy -- Wall Street as a cross between a James Bond adventure and a Victoria’s Secret spread.
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  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    50
    With her arresting, off-kilter look of bruised desire, Michelle Williams ends up being the most interesting aspect of this somber corn.
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  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Kirk Honeycutt
    40
    Why Hugh Jackman was so excited by Mark Bomback's script to star and produce the film is as big a mystery as why such talents-on-a-roll as Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams joined the cast.
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