The Hoax (2006)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Lasse Hallström

Writers (WGA):

William Wheeler (screenplay)
Clifford Irving (book)

Release Date:

20 April 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Based on the true story. Would we lie to you?

Plot:

In what would cause a fantastic media frenzy, Clifford Irving sells his bogus biography of Howard Hughes to a premiere publishing house in the early 1970s.

Plot Keywords:

Hoax | 1970s | Book | Manuscript | Writer

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

David Aaron Baker	...	Brad Silber
John Carter	...	Harold McGraw
Judi Barton	...	Marion
Raul Julia Jr.	...	Bike Messenger
James Biberi	...	McGraw-Hill Security
Richard Gere	...	Clifford Irving
Hope Davis	...	Andrea Tate
Christopher Evan Welch	...	Albert Vanderkamp
Okwui Okpokwasili	...	Malika
Alfred Molina	...	Dick Suskind
Bob Wiltfong	...	Sporting Goods Salesman
William Fowle	...	Car Salesman
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Edith Irving
Julie Delpy	...	Nina Van Pallandt
Antonie Knoppers	...	Fredrick Van Pallandt

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Ireland:15A | Brazil:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Armonk, New York, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

The books being burned at the end of the movie are surplus copies of 'Knife of Dreams', the eleventh novel in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. The series logo and gate-fold map are clearly visible in one shot.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Early in the movie, you see the top of the Met Life building. In the early 1970's, it was known as the Pan Am building.

Quotes:

Edith Irving: You're always so careful when you talk, always so soft like a cushion for what you want. But I am leaving. But before I go, I give you something. You are exhausted from your lies. So tell the truth. Tell me the truth about what you did with her this time. It is your moment to be clean.
Clifford Irving: I saw her.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2007-04-07)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Come See Me Tonight

Highly entertaining Watergate-era thriller

A super matinée flick. Richard Gere plays Clifford Irving, a mediocre author who tries to turn his fortune with an outrageous literary coup - that he is engaged to write the autobiography of reclusive magnate Howard Hughes. Gere captures the chutzpah and nervous opportunism of Irving; he is helped by director Lasse Hallström with unfussy sequences of intoxication, dream and surrealism as the project takes on a terrible life of its own.

Hallström is well-attuned to the natural drama in the story, using period footage and bleaching his shots beige with filters. Yet he really wrings the drama from the situation and has made a nail-biting and often funny film. Gere has classy support from the versatile Alfred Molina, a grandstanding Hope Davis as his agent and, latterly, the ever-watchable Stanley Tucci (Julie Delpy simply fleshes out a cameo). A more coherent and satisfying hoaxer movie than Catch Me If You Can. 7/10