Street Date: September 23

Official Synopsis:
Leave your inhibitions at the door as Hugh Jackman (X-Men Trilogy) and Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) lure Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge) into a tangled web of lust and lies in this scorching erotic thriller. Lonely, timid accountant Jonathan McQuarry (McGregor) lives only for his work – until a chance meeting with suave, charismatic corporate lawyer Wyatt Bose (Jackman) introduces him to “The List.” Suddenly, the right cell-phone number and the words, “Are You Free Tonight,” launch Jonathan on a decadent journey of sexual conquests and self-discovery amidst New York’s power elite. But an affair with a ravishing and mysterious stranger (Williams) will expose him to another world he never imagined: one of betrayal, treachery and murder!

Our Take:
I’ve made this observation before, but the problem with making sexual thrillers is that they have to be either sexual or thrilling or, preferably, both. So many films in this genre offer up gratuitous nudity thrown on screen around a thinly-developed plot with a weak central mystery and rely on the promise of T&A to attract an audience. Since almost all of these movies go direct to video, it often results in halfway decent sales or rentals. However, when you up the ante to the big screen and bring in stars like Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, and Michelle Williams, you better have a good reason to do so.

Deception does not have that reason. I guarantee you I could go into the local video store and find you a hundred movies that are the exact same as this one, only they’d have names like Sexy Heat or Twisted Desires or Hot Twisted Sexy Desire Heat. The only difference between Deception and those movies is that here you get a bigger cast and better production values. Oh yeah, and Ewan McGregor’s awful accent. On the positive side, I will say that after a dreadfully boring first half, the second half of the film does pick up a little. Also, Hugh Jackman is typically good in his role, even though it’s obvious he’s up to no good from the first moment he’s on screen. Jackman nails the slimy, intelligent villain quite well, and he’s one of the movie’s few pleasures.

Deception comes with just a handful of extra features.

* Audio Commentary with director Marcei Langenegger
* Exposing Deception: The Making Of Deception
* Club Sexy Featurette
* Deleted Scenes

Deception boasted a pretty intriguing trailer, and I imagine that it, combined with a cast that includes Wolverine and Obi-Wan Kenobi and the promise of lots of sex and nudity, will be enough to draw a fair amount of people in on home video. Unfortunately, there’s nothing here that we haven’t seen before.

Overall Picture:
Movie: C
DVD: B-

- Mike Spring

Editor