Movie Notes: The Hoax
= 3 stars
Starring Richard Gere, Hope Davis, Alfred Molina
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom
Synopsis
Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) has snared a series of interviews with wealthy recluse Howard Hughes, and signed on publisher McGraw Hill. Unfortunately, his relationship with Hughes is a fabrication.
The Good
- Richard Gere is outstanding as a smarmy, compulsive liar, and his efforts to keep the ruse up even lead him to pretend to be Hughes himself for tape recordings.
- While largely upbeat and funny, there’s an undercurrent of unfulfilled desire, as if the tumultuous seventies had people grasping for anything to believe in. Gere provides this “something” to his publisher, and that the lie is so easily swallowed says as much about the publisher’s desire for a hit as it does Irving’s.
The Bad
- A snowballing, sitcom situation — a lie, somewhat innocently told, gets larger and larger until it’s impossible to cover up.
- Despite Gere’s great performance, the movie ultimately failed to gel for me. Perhaps it’s because the too-large-for-life Howard Hughes never really enters the picture, or the small situation of a lying writer doesn’t call for this film’s epic yearnings.
Conclusion
If the subject matter interests you, it’s worth a rental. Just don’t expect The Aviator.
IMDB: The Hoax
Wikipedia: The Hoax
Rotten Tomatoes: The Hoax 85%