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Deceiver

1998, Movie, R, 102 mins

Deceiver: Review

DECEIVER
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The emerald demon absinthe, dissolute Charleston blueblood James Walter Wayland (Tim Roth) would have us believe, is at the heart of his recent memory problems. That's why he's not exactly clear on the details of his brief encounter with pretty prostitute Elizabeth Loftus (Renee Zellweger), who was recently found cut in half and stashed in two grisly packages. Local cops Braxton (Chris Penn) and Kenneshaw (Michael Rooker) aren't buying it: They think Wayland murdered the girl, and bring him in to the station house take a lie-detector test. But what should be a simple interrogation turns into a convoluted series of head games: Is Wayland a lying sociopath, an epileptic who may have done something terrible while having a seizure, or a rich ne'er-do-well who's mostly guilty of being a spoiled snot? The second effort by identical twin novelty act Josh and Jonas Pate, this is basically a rather transparent, three-character psychological thriller tricked up with all manner of stylistic flourishes. It's quite handsome, but not a word or an image or a detail rings true: not the accents, not the twisty-turny psychodrama, not Ellen Burstyn in glittery eye shadow playing tough-as-nails bookie Mook, not the absinthe or the self-consciously contradictory flashbacks, not Kenneshaw's marital problems, not the seizures, not Michael Parks in the role of the world's least discreet psychiatrist. And, for that matter, not the basic conceit that anyone's life hangs in the balance of a lie-detector test: All those pointy arms scraping ink up and down the page look very cool, but the devices are so notoriously unreliable that no court will accept the results. So what's the point? Rent it one night when you're in a direct-to-video thriller mood. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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