Fast paced, intriguing and fun from beginning to end with a super cast and nary a lack-luster performance---the years best scam flick so far.
Director Lasse Hallström uncorks a good one in this roiling scam flick about a successful author who was on the verge of being an international celebrity when only one problem stood in the way. The problem was that Clifford Irving’s autobiography of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes was a fake from beginning to end. In spite of his crystal clear descriptions and bigger than life interviews, he had never met with, or even spoken to, the subject of the autobiography. He made recorded interviews himself, to better put himself into Hughes’ shoes. In spite of this minor disadvantage Irving managed to forge convincing letters of agreement from Hughes and land the contract of contracts with none other than McGraw Hill to publish the finished story.
As morally dispersed as Irving was and in spite of the damage he caused to McGraw-Hill and countless others, let’s face it, the story is a good one. Americans love a good scam as long as they are not the direct victims.
Nothing succeeds like success and we love to see the little guy put one over on the establishment. Irving’s strategy (yes, he actually had a strategy) was based on three basic tenets. The first was that Hughes was sufficiently mentally befuddled and his staff so preoccupied with controlling his fortune that neither he nor they would suffer the public exposure of denouncing the fraud.
The emperor would be allowed to continue to wear no clothes because he was so isolated from the public eye that nobody knew what he wore. The second line of defense was that Hughes was on the losing end of a hundred million dollar lawsuit at the time and risked having to pay up if he set foot in any courtroom to sue over the book. The third protection was the best of all: when perpetrating a scam, the bigger the better. And this was just about as big as a fraud could get.
Richard Gere, (“Pretty Woman,” “An Officer and a Gentleman”) puts on his Billy Flynn hat from his smash hit “Chicago” in which he plays the flamboyant lawyer who successfully saves the murdering showgirls from the electric chair. In this picture he extends the barrister personage a good deal further by playing someone who, in fact, has no legal or rational position at all. Flynn exaggerated the truth to make his case, Irving flat-out invented it. Be that as it may, Gere seems to have tremendous fun with the part and the audience gets to go along for the ride.
Irving’s wife, played by Marcia Gay Harden, is drawn into the scheme full tilt when she travels to her native Switzerland to deposit Hughes’ McGraw-Hill royalty check in a Swiss bank. Unfortunately for the pair, and contrary to the accounts of many mystery thrillers, Swiss banks are not completely secure when it comes to four hundred thousand dollar forgeries and she ends up paying the piper just like her husband. If her role in this film is not as meaty as her previous work (Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress in “Pollock,” nominated for “Mystic River”), she is great nonetheless.
This brings us to the other key character, Dick Suskind, Irving’s co-author and partner in crime. Alfred Molina (“Frida,” “Chocolat”) can safely chalk up another smashing victory in his lengthy list of supporting successes. He brings brinkmanship to rollicking life as he sweats his way, panting and bleating, through document smuggling, secret photographs and hilarious interrogations at McGraw-Hill. Steely eyed publishing executive Andrea Tate is played with perfection by Hope Davis (“American Splendor”) who pulls off an excellent portrayal of a person who is not used to being had, but is being had and can’t quite figure out how she is being had.
Last but definitely not least is Stanley Tucci as McGraw-Hill president Shelton Fisher. As the man who wields the power to make or break the book, and Irving, Fisher is a tough-as-nails CEO who eats fakers for breakfast. Tucci puts on the perfect persona of a man who combines a crushing machismo with a “why me?” undercurrent of foreboding. Another hilarious performance.
If a fluffy flick compared to uber-director Hallström’s previous “Cider House Rules” and “Chocolat,” “The Hoax” remains one of the most thoroughly enjoyable movies so far this year.
The Hoax
Directed by Lasse Hallström
Opens: April 6, 2007 MPAA: Rated R for language.
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