REEL CRITICS:

“Duplicity” is a big-studio political thriller with romantic comedy overtones.

Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson provide the major star power in this A-list effort.

It’s directed by Tony Gilroy, who also wrote the excellent screenplays for “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Michael Clayton.”

With all these competent personnel, this film should be a guaranteed success.

It seeks to update the sexy spy tales made famous by Cary Grant in several Hitchcock movies.

Gilroy and the fine acting ensemble definitely succeed in creating the look and feel of this sophisticated genre.

The whole enterprise is a happy romp through the bedrooms and boardrooms of the principal players as the intricate plot unfolds.

But the secret knowledge everyone is fighting over involves a shampoo formula among rival corporations and not a nuclear threat among rival nations.

The complex screenplay has way too many twists and turns for such a lightweight premise.

It’s hard to follow the motives and machinations of everyone involved.

But “Duplicity” is still a first-rate production with lots of sizzle.

If you like male bonding and prog rock, rush to this

At the beginning of “I Love You, Man” Peter, a struggling real estate agent, gets down on one knee and proposes to Zooey, who accepts. With all the wedding planning that’s involved, who would imagine that the biggest problem would be finding a best man and some groomsmen for Peter?

Seems that Peter (Paul Rudd) has always had only “girl friends”: He’s not into sports or poker; he’s more in touch with his feminine side than his gay brother. After overhearing his fiancée’s friends giggling about his lack of the “dude” factor, Peter decides find a best buddy.

How to go about it? He considers going online and even gets set up on a “man date” with unexpected results. Then one day while working an open house, Peter meets Sydney (Jason Segel), and they seem to strike a chord.

Rudd is adorable and hilarious as a sweet-natured guy who’s painfully inept at male bonding. Watching him try to come up with a nickname for Sydney is as agonizing as it is funny, as is the fake reggae accent, which sounds suspiciously “like a leprechaun.”

Segel, so memorable in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” again plays a lovable lunk who’s secure in his masculinity yet vulnerable. For all his bravado and freewheeling lifestyle (does he ever work?) Sydney is still a man-child at heart.

“I Love You, Man” has lots of gross-out humor. But it’s really funny and charming, and if you’re a Rush fan — dude, this movie is awesome!

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.