DeceptionMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 31 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Ruthe Stein

    An overwrought and ultimately silly thriller. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Deception is not the cool, noirish thriller it tries to be. Despite a cast that includes double-crossers Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams caught in the middle, the film is a yawn. Read full review

  • 40
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Why Hugh Jackman was so excited by Mark Bomback's script to star and produce the film is as big a mystery as why such talents-on-a-roll as Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams joined the cast. Read full review

  • 40
    Variety | Brian Lowry

    Strip out Deception's fleeting nudity and what's left is a throwback to "B" movie days -- a thin thriller, burdened by clunky dialogue and prone to telegraphing its twists. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Deception is another example of when genre-fication (the forcing of otherwise intriguing stories into the straitjackets of horror, thriller or other genres) reduces our entertainment to head-shaking banality. Read full review

  • 30
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    A would-be erotic thriller with no heat and zero chills, Deception has the kind of glassy, glossy sheen and risible story that mean to suggest "Basic Instinct" but instead invoke lesser laughers like "Jade" and "Sliver." Read full review

  • 30
    Los Angeles Times |

    Deception would be laughably bad if it weren't so rotely inert. Read full review

  • 25
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    The movie actually does feel like an Americanized work of Hong Kong moviemaking. But the desperate, derivative style, the nonsense plotting, and leggy, horny women are applied like too much MSG. Read full review

  • 25
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Everything is wrong pretty much from the start of this misbegotten adventure. Read full review

  • 20
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    The real culprit is first-time director Marcel Langenegger, who seems to have studied for his debut by watching nothing but Cinemax. The score hints at ominous activities that never happen, a rain machine provides the only atmosphere and the actors have to suffer through the silliest sex scenes in recent memory. Read full review

View more reviews for Deception on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Implausible, mature thriller about a sex club.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie focuses on anonymous sexual gratification, money motivated blackmail, and murder. The male leads are involved in a sex club called the List, which pairs male and female executives for steamy encounters in high-class hotels. There is a date-rape scene and a shot showing a woman with her throat cut.
  • Families can talk about lust and greed. What drives Wyatt to befriend Jonathon? Why does Jonathon accept the phone calls on Wyatt's phone? When does the desire for money overtake compassion? Is this movie realistic? Why or why not?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Wyatt uses Jonathon to get what he wants. The people in the sex club use one another.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Violence against women, including a scene of date rape and a woman shown with her throat cut.
  • sex false4 Sex: Sex is the point of half of the movie. A sex club allows people to have anonymous sex, and they do -- a lot. Wyatt tells "S" that she can't refuse him sex if he gives her money.
  • language false4 Language: Numerous variations of the f-word, used lewdly and as an expletive.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Slick hotels, $4,000 suits -- money is more important than actual products.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false4 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Wyatt and Jonathon smoke a joint in the first scene, making them fast friends. Alcohol use and sex go hand in hand.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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