MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Deception’: Slight, but Travels Well

As a travelogue, “Deception” (citywide) is terrific; as a romantic adventure, it could scarcely be slighter, pleasant-enough escapist fare for the easily nourished. With gorgeously photographed locales ranging from the blue-collar L.A. County neighborhood of Lennox to Cairo in all its ancient, shabby splendor, “Deception” has production values worthy of a far more substantial movie.

Andie MacDowell stars as the unsophisticated wife of a pilot (Viggo Mortensen) with a struggling airplane salvage business transport company with ramshackle offices near LAX and in Veracruz. When he is reported killed when his plane explodes outside Veracruz, MacDowell goes down to investigate, finding his cache of baseball cards that, via a secret code on them, allows her to collect more than $800,000 in bank accounts in Veracruz, the Bahamas, Berlin and Athens.

Needless to say, Mortensen, whose business is made clear from the film’s production notes rather than the film itself, has been into something definitely shady, and MacDowell’s pursuit of the truth culminates in Cairo.

MacDowell is ever the charmer, but writers Robert Dillon and Michael Thomas have given her little to work with--or rather, against. Except for a brief encounter in Veracruz with MacDowell, Liam Neeson’s director of an international famine relief fund is off screen for the first 50 minutes of the movie’s 90, eventually crossing paths with her once again in Cairo.

Neeson is simply too good to waste on the most meager of leading man roles; the same could be said for Jack Thompson, as Neeson’s Cairo shipper, in a supporting role. Worse yet, for all the film’s mysterious and menacing touches along the way, MacDowell ultimately experiences amazingly little danger.

Laszlo Kovacs’ cinematography is the film’s glory, and it’s hard to think of any film that has captured Cairo’s rich, pungent atmosphere so extensively.

Directed smoothly by Graeme Clifford, “Deception” has been rated PG-13 for a shooting and brief language; it had originally been rated R under its previous title “Ruby Cairo” for a scene of strong sexuality, and for violence.

‘Deception’

Andie MacDowell: Bessie Faro

Liam Neeson: Dr. Fergus Lamb

Viggo Mortensen: Johnny Faro

Jack Thompson: Ed

A Miramax Films release of a Majestic Films International production. Director Graeme Clifford. Producer Lloyd Phillips. Executive producer Haruki Kadokawa. Screenplay by Robert Dillon, Michael Thomas; from a story by Dillon. Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs. Editor Caroline Biggerstaff. Costumes Rudy Dillon. Music John Barry. Production design Richard Sylbert. Art director Peter Smith. Set decorator--Europe/L.A. Jim Erickson; L.A./Mexico Lisa Fischer. Sound Dom Summer. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG-13 (for a shooting and brief language).