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It isn't the deceit that sells "Deception," an intriguing new thriller that eventually abandons its intrigue for a messy and unsatisfying finale. It's watching Hugh Jackman turn some of that lethal charm of his loose as a villain, a smooth, sexy, seductive and dangerous guy who wears a suit a little too well to be trusted.
Ewan McGregor stars as Jonathan, a shy, lonely accountant, a guy who can't even "meet somebody" at work because he's an auditor. He drops in on businesses, goes over their books and makes the few people he meets there at least somewhat uncomfortable by the very nature of the job. And you're not picking anybody up in a bar by telling them how much you love numbers, "the order of it, their symmetry."
Which is why he blurts an awful lot of personal angst when the slick, backslapping Wyatt (Jackman) reaches out just a bit. Well, that and the pot they share after-hours.
Next thing Jonathan knows, he has a friend, somebody he can hit the bars with, meet on the tennis court. Next thing we know Jonathan and Wyatt have mixed up phones, and "no game" Jonathan finds himself caught up in "the List," a casual sex club for the rich, the confident, the well-connected.
"No names, no rough stuff, no talking business." Just a phone call from another member, an "Are you free tonight?" and a no-consequences roll in the four-star-hotel hay with nameless women who have healthy sexual appetites.
After Jonathan meets up with a pretty young thing (Michelle Williams) he saw on the subway, however, the casual turns complicated. He's smitten. He wants to break the rules. He wants to date her. Of course that's the very moment she disappears and he's sure some harm has come to her and wonders whether Wyatt may be involved.
Director Marcel Langenegger comes from the world of TV commercials, so the film has the sheen of a magazine cover. The offices are sterile, empty -- white, black and blue voids. The strip joint Wyatt and Jonathan check out may be music video perfect, but "Deception's" sound, score and images conjure up a feeling of isolation, desperation and dread.
McGregor plays this guy with the stooped posture of a loser, and a convincing American accent. His face gives away Jonathan's despair. Jackman, on the other hand, is the very picture of a guy who isn't a salesman, but sure is selling you something. The charisma just oozes from the man in this performance.
It's a pity the movie kind of goes off the rails in a chatty, explain-it-all (long after we've guessed it all), drawn-out finale. Screenwriter Mark Bomback did the last "Die Hard" movie, which wasn't nearly as witty as this, but which had similar third-act issues.
But that sneaky Pete, Jackman, the once-and-future Wolverine, makes this never less than watchable. And Williams ("Brokeback Mountain"), in her biggest screen role ever, shows us dimensions that suggest a career to come, someone perfectly suited to that professional deception we call good acting.
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