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Tuesday, 01 May 2007 18:16 |
| Richard Gere, as Irving, is an opportunist, an adulterer and a scoundrel in ìThe Hoax.î
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By ELIZABETH MEADS
ìNever let the truth get in the way of a good storyî could have been the motto of one of the best drunken liars of all time, Clifford Irving.
In the 1970s, Irving convinced America that he was writing an autobiography with Howard Hughes, a reclusive billionaire, aviator, industrialist, movie producer and director.
Director Lasse Hallströmís ìThe Hoaxî is the captivating account of Irvingís fake book project.
As the movie tells it, Irving ó played with dutiful precision by
Richard Gere ó was an opportunist, an adulterer, and a scoundrel, with
enough nerve to fool his publishing company McGraw-Hill into giving him
a million dollars for an empty promise.
ìThe Hoax,î which is adapted from Irvingís own book of the same name,
asserts the grand deception to be a whimsical lark that went terribly
wrong. At first, weíre intrigued by how far Irving will take his
deception, how many people he fools, and the escalation of lies he has
to tell to cover his initial whoppers. And thereís a fizzle of
excitement in knowing that these events ó no matter how fictionalized
they might be ó really took place.
Itís Irvingís sheer, reckless vivacity ó brought to life by one of
Gereís best performances in a long time ó that helps make ìThe Hoaxî
such an immensely entertaining film. As Irving gets in deeper and
deeper, we canít imagine heíll ever possibly dig himself out. And yet,
despite the fact that heís deceitful and arrogant, we hold out hope
that he will.
Richard Gere plays Irving with the kind of unsympathetically
manipulative good looks and charm that have become his trademarks in
his most successful vehicles. Gere radiates the sheer joy Irving gets
from pulling his complicated fast ones.
But this isnít just about an amoral guy who revels in his strategizing
skills and thinking on his feet. Instead, Irving is drenched in the
desperation ó professional, financial and egotistical ó which drives
him to a state of constant lying. As the pressures grow, we see him
losing touch with reality, hallucinating just as Hughes supposedly did
and losing track of where his own fibs end and his real identity begins.
Co-starring in the film is Alfred Molina, playing Dick Susskind,
Irvingís cowardly confidant, researcher and stooge. He helps Irving
with digging up dirt on Howard Hughes and illegally photocopying
government documents.
To top it all off, the script by William Wheeler actually included one
of the most notable liars of the time ó the Watergate-era Nixon
administration ó into the plot. Whether anything like Wheelerís
scenario actually happened remains doubtful; however, it was a
brilliant twist.
Maybe Iíve been scammed. I donít believe so, but if I was, I was
tricked into thinking that ìThe Hoaxî is a smart, well-plotted movie.
ï
Elizabeth Meads, a junior at UNC Asheville majoring in multi-media arts and sciences, works at the Daily Planet.
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