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Movie Description
Richard Gere gives one of the best performances of his career in Lasse Hallström's vastly entertaining THE HOAX, based on true events. Gere stars as Clifford Irving, a struggling writer desperate to be a famous bestselling author. After his novel gets rejected, he concocts a crazy plot in which he convinces McGraw-Hill that he has been contacted by Howard Hughes in order to tell the official life story of the reclusive billionaire. With the help of his friend, nervous writer Dick Suskind (Alfred Molina), and Irving's artist wife, Edith (Marcia Gay Harden), he attempts to get away with one of the greatest literary hoaxes of the 20th century. He goes to elaborate lengths to pull the wool over the eyes of his editor, Andrea Tate (Hope Davis), as well as his publisher, Shelton Fisher (Stanley Tucci), and the managing editor of Life magazine, Ralph Graves (Zeljko Ivanek), who is offering big bucks to serialize the book. As Irving gets deeper and deeper into the lies, he begins to embody Hughes, mimicking the way he looks and talks. The film features excellent performances all around, including star turns by Eli Wallach as longtime Hughes employee Noah Dietrich (a part played by John C. Reilly in Martin Scorsese's THE AVIATOR) and Julie Delpy as Nina Van Pallandt, a former flame of Irving's whom he can't shake loose. Director Hallström (MY LIFE AS A DOG, CHOCOLAT, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES) shows a deft hand with the complex material; William Wheeler based the script in part on Clifford Irving's own memoir. The soundtrack prominently features Richie Havens's version of "Here Comes the Sun," along with songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Industry Reviews
"Gere reveals hidden talents, asserting himself with a confident swagger as the Machiavellian figure whose charisma and plausibility pull others along in his wake."
Box Office - Richard Mowe (12/01/2006)
"[B]riskly entertaining....THE HOAX gestures beyond the particulars of the case, toward a pervasive social unease..."
New York Times - A. O. Scott (04/06/2007)
"As he showed in CHICAGO, Richard Gere is far more energetic playing con men and hustlers than he ever was in more heroic roles."
Movieline's Hollywood Life - Stephen Farber (03/01/2007)
"THE HOAX expands and darkens, in the sophisticated script by under-the-radar screenwriter William Wheeler, to comment on the deception and power games that defined Watergate-era America." -- Grade: A-
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (04/13/2007)
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Gere gives 'em the old razzle-dazzle with his roguish charm and sharp comic timing. The surprise is the unexpected feeling he brings to this challenging role."
Rolling Stone - Peter Travers (04/19/2007)
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "THE HOAX is a highly entertaining tale....Gere is brilliant as the shamelessly manipulative and jauntily glib Irving."
USA Today - Claudia Puig (04/06/2007)
4 stars out of 5 -- "With Gere relishing Irving's crazed denial and great comic turns by Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci and Eli Wallach, the film is accessibly smart..."
Uncut - Charles Roberts (09/01/2007)
4 stars out of 5 -- "Lasse Hallstrom's film is a spry escapade, swept along by Richard Gere's infectious self-aggrandisement as Irving."
Total Film - Tom Charity (09/01/2007)
"THE HOAX is a tricksy tale, tricksily told, but with enough zing, ebullience and delight in its own narrative sleight of hand to carry us along with it."
Sight and Sound - Philip Kemp (09/01/2007)
4 stars out of 5 -- "[W]e're treated to a character study of a confident but increasingly desperate man, surrounded by a superb gallery of bit-players..."
Empire - Alan Morrison (09/01/2007)
"[A] compelling and entertaining real-life whimsy....Fast, smart and surprising right to the end."
Ultimate DVD - Jason Caro (11/23/2007)
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