Film Review--The Hoax

Without rehashing the crazy plot of The Hoax, the new film from Lasse Hallstrom, I will simply say that the story of Clifford Irving’s elaborate hoax on the publishing world could not be more entertainingly told. Is it accurate to the actual events? Who knows. Because the screenplay by William Wheeler is based directly (with cinematic liberty) off of Irving’s own account of the situation, the facts are untrustworthy. If I didn’t already know the story as fact, there is no way I’d believe it as fiction. Without doubt, I would mock the many plot twists that have no basis in any reality I’ve experienced. The audacity and lack of conscience that Irving shows to make all this happen is staggering. Anybody giving any credence to the “factual” story here is crazy. The only people who could possibly lend insight died long ago. All except Irving, who’s clearly pretty good at sticking to the yarns he spins. I often feel that the “based on true events” information at the beginnings of “historical” films add undue expectations and detract from a movie’s primary objective: to entertain. The Hoax’s claims to facts are so spurious that the title card saying it seems like a joke. But it’s just this melding of fact and fiction that gives the movie its charm. Some of the creative license gives the movie a Hollywood feel, but to good results. At all points, it’s still a comic thriller about a book, so the extravagances can only take it so far.

What does take The Hoax to another level, however, is the performances. I will admit that this is the first time I’ve ever gone out to see a movie starring Richard Gere, not caring much for his leading man type, but his performance here is extraordinary. With a perm, a fake nose, and a damn good Howard Hughes impersonation, Gere is as believable as anyone could be as Irving. Playing a man half his age, he gives a sense of humanity to a character, otherwise, entirely reprehensible. He cheats on his wife and lies to his best friend with the same ruthless believability that he brings to his agent and to the head of McGraw-Hill to whom he sells the hoax. Yet those closest to him, those who have seen the origins of his lies, agree to believe what he says to them. For some reason, everybody has faith in the man, no matter how slimy he seems. Even the audience wants to believe in Gere’s Irving, no matter what we see. He brings humor and strength of humanity to Irving; it is a surprising portrayal.

It’s certainly not a one-man show, however. Alfred Molina is as good as I’ve ever seen him as Richard Suskin, Irving’s friend and coconspirator, who provides much of the comic relief and serves as the moral compass of the film. [On a side note, Clifford Irving’s main complaint about the script of this film was how they handled Suskin, who he feels was turned into a blithering idiot instead of the literary mind that he really was. Indeed, Suskin was complicit in the act, and I have a hard time believing that he was much of a moral compass in Irving’s life.] While Gere and Molina work very well together both as a comic and dramatic duo, I do wish that they’d spent more time with some of the side characters which often are the real life of the film. I especially wish they’d spent more time with Marcia Gay Harden as Irving’s wife Edith but unfortunately, much like Pollack, in which she plays the same essential character, is more the foil for the hero’s actions than a character unto herself. She’s a very good actress and does the most with the material given, but the motivations for why she commits the crimes for this man are entirely unclear and the story suffers for it. Additionally, look for Eli Wallach as Noah Dietrich, Hughes’ former associate. He is hilarious, as funny as I’ve ever seen him in a scene that plays like it might come out of a Coen Brothers’ film.

Overall, The Hoax is an excellent production, and the best thing Hallstrom has directed since What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Veteran period film cinematographer Oliver Stapleton’s photography and Carter Burwell’s excellent score add an overarching sense of paranoia to an already tense situation and helps to establish an urgency of political intrigue. On every level, it is an enjoyable and entertaining film, one that does not take itself too seriously while, at the same time, offers both fantastic performances and a substantial story. That is a tough line to tow, but The Hoax pulls it off.