Ever met someone so suave and dashing, someone so "cool" that you were transported back to high school, and you felt like the awkward nerdy kid in front of one of the cool kids?  That's how the lead character of this movie, Jonathan McQuarry, feels when he meets Wyatt Bose, and he's shocked when Wyatt takes a liking to him.  Now, if you've ever seen a movie before in your life, you'll be able to pick up on what's going on here and you'll want to scream at the screen as McQuarry is drawn into a web of deceit (and no, I don't think I'm giving anything away because the trailers give away a lot more than that) but the genius of this movie is how its actors draw us into their story so even when you want to stab McQuarry for being so naive, you still care about him and you kind of understand where he's coming from.  Damn if Ewan McGregor didn't pull this one off splendidly. Jonathan McQuarry is the kind of guy who seems to have been in the shadows all his life.  He's middle aged and though he's obviously highly intelligent (listening to him ramble about mathematical equations and logic problems is impressive) but he's lived a solitary and sheltered life without much fun, and we can see why he's drawn to the charismatic Bose.  One could speculate that even if he knew that Bose wasn't being totally honest with him, he might not have cared, because being "friends" with Bose opens him up to opportunities he'd never have had otherwise.

This movie is a by-the-numbers thriller in a lot of respects, and there wasn't a plot twist that I didn't see coming in some way (I might not have known exactly what was going to happen at every turn, but I knew when the movie was trying to deceive me and I wasn't buying it) but it didn't matter because I sat there biting my nails anyway, watching McQuarry get deeper and deeper into a trap from which there appears to be no escape.  I need to stop here to give a shout out to Hugh Jackman.  As Wyatt Bose, he's so slimy in this movie that I want to vomit in his face, but damn he's good at what he does.  Even with a fairly cliché role to work with, he works his charismatic charm and effortless line delivery until you believe every word he says. Jackman is a great character actor because he embodies every role he's given so that even if we've seen it before, we're glad to see it again.  That's difficult to do with me, because I'm very picky and easily bored and I've seen so many movies that I can figure out even elaborate plot twists long before they play out onscreen, so in order to keep me interested a movie has to have that intangible quality that makes me excited to watch.  This movie has it in spades, and any missteps it makes or weaknesses in its build-up can be forgiven because of how much I enjoy getting there.

And then I "get there" and I want to punch myself in the face.  Way to telegraph your plot twist in you film's title, geniuses.  As the title indicates, yes, not everything is as it seems, and yes, there is a lot of "deception" going on, and the problem is that the filmmakers either think we're stupid (that even though the movie is called "deception" they think we'll forget the title and believe everything the characters say so we'll be surprised when the twists happen) or they just don't care.  That pisses me off a lot, especially since I had so much invested in this movie up to that point that the ending really let me down, and I mean REALLY.  I wanted to walk out, I was so furious.  I should say here that it's not that the ending is BAD, per se, but if you've ever seen a movie before in your life you're going to see this one coming a mile away and it's just not enough to live up to my expectations after I enjoyed the first hour of the movie so much.  I almost wish movies like this would just stop trying to have "twist" endings at all, because everyone is going to know the score by now and it's not going to come as a surprise to anyone over the age of ten. 

Seriously, at this point, "twists" aren't even twists anymore, viewers expect them so much that we know when they're coming, and unless you have something new to offer (which this movie doesn't even really attempt) you're just going to piss people off, and the movie could have been a good thriller without trying to set the audience up for a twist that was so easy to figure out that it bordered on insulting. The predictability of the "twists and turns" wasn't the only problem with the movie.  There are also a bunch of really dumb moves by one of the lead characters that will make you want to strangle him by the end of the movie, and like I said, if you don't figure out the climactic "twist," then you must be either legally blind, asleep, or dead.  No, I'm not exaggerating.  I enjoyed the movie so much that the build-up was definitely exciting and thrilling, but the ending is a major let-down in a lot of respects.  It just doesn't live up to what the first two acts promise, and I was pissed at the final "twist" and even more pissed at the denouement because after the careful plotting of the first two acts, the third just didn't cut it.  It fizzles.

The only thing that saves this movie from being a total loss is that McGregor, Jackman, and even Michelle Williams are so good at what they do, that they shine through whatever weaknesses the script may have.  Nevertheless, this movie took a pounding from the critics.  I checked out some reviews to see how others liked this movie and everyone tore it to pieces.  Obviously not everyone agrees with my assessment... I suppose not everyone loves Jackman and McGregor as much as I do (I run into that problem a lot with movies) but ultimately, I judge a movie by whether I feel like it wasted my time, and even if the plot twists weren't remotely twisted, I was glad I watched this movie if only to be reminded again of what great actors can do with even the most mediocre material.  I enjoyed myself more than I would have expected, and for that I'm grateful.  This movie blows the similarly themed "8MM2" right out of the water, and if nothing else, I'm glad I got to see that happen.