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Rating:  -
Set during the Watergate era of Nixon's presidency. This is the story of the man who faked Howard Hughes autobiography. Gere is decent but unlikeable in his role in a picture that was okay until the end when I couldn't figure out if he was going crazy, or was crazy the whole picture. Also the whole conspiracy thing involving Hughes and Nixon was treated like fact rather than speculation and gossip. An interesting movie, but you are better served by reading the book.
Rating: -
"The Hoax," a 2006 comedy drama starring Richard Gere, is set in the Watergate era - think corruption, underhanded dealings and dirty tricks, if you weren't there, during what eventually proved to be American President Richard Milhous Nixon's final days. It tells one of the more interesting tales of the era: the efforts of Clifford Irving, a sinking mid-list novelist, to convince his publishers McGraw-Hill, a major firm, that he had established a relationship with legendary billionaire recluse Howard Hughes, and that the eccentric Hughes was cooperating with the author to write the famous moviemaker/aviation pioneer's biography. It must have been something in the water, because mighty, corporate McGraw-Hill wilfully believed Irving for quite some time.
The movie is based on Irving's own remembrance of his attempted sting, as rewritten for the screen by William Wheeler. It was cleanly directed by Lasse Hallstrom. The 1970s setting is pretty good - clothes, cars and soundtrack. Gere, in a prosthetic nose, can be said to carry the movie: he's in almost every scene. Nobody, not even Gere, can play romantic leads forever, but that offhand, arrogant charm he had as a handsome playboy seems to work here too. He receives able support from Alfred Molina, playing his fellow author/best friend Dick Suskind, who also gets caught up, much to his regret, in the scheme. And, by the by, what a career Molina has had, first coming to public attention as Kenneth Halliwell, murderous gay lover of noted British playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) in 1989's "Prick Up Your Ears." Hope Davis plays Andrea Tate, Irving's agent. Marcia Gay Harden plays Irving's Swiss wife, Edith, and gets to trot out her inner housewife. Stanley Tucci plays Shelton Fish, publisher who signed off on a real bad deal. Eli Wallach plays Hughes' henchman, Noah Dietrich. Julie Delpy plays Swedish folk singer Nina Van Pallandt; of the minor nobility, she was Irving's mistress at the time, and apparently, she got to hang out at the swankier New York hotels. Zelko Ivanek and Ralph Graves have smaller parts; Larry David puts in a cameo.
The film labors to explicitly tie itself to the larger picture, and to suggest some kind of secret dealings between Hughes and Nixon, but it isn't very convincing. Guess you had to be there.
Rating:  -
That line (from the written epilogue) is just one of many winks to the audience: this isn't an entirely serious history. It's an entertainment, a wild ride, with high drama and low comedy, suggested by actual events, as they say in Hollywood. In their audio commentary, director Lasse Hallstrom and writer William Wheeler speak freely about what's true and what's made-up, and at one point where a liberty has been taken with the facts, Hallstrom says "Forgive us for that, for having fun." Some will be disappointed by the departures from real events, others will see no need for apologies. Regardless, the movie is riveting, astonishing, very sharp and, though it's drama, also very funny.
Hoax tells the story of an audacious literary fraud, the fake autobiography of Howard Hughes accepted for publication by McGraw-Hill in 1972. Richard Gere plays the primary hoax purveyor Clifford Irving, and Alfred Molina is his long-time best friend and collaborator Richard Suskind. The way the fraud comes about and is maintained for so long is portrayed in fascinating detail, but much attention is given as well to what makes the characters, especially Irving, tick. There is an effort to be true to the flawed personalities and tragic elements, though we may wonder if the comedic leavening lightens some aspects more than they were in life. Those wanting to know more about the actual events will enjoy the audio commentaries, also worthwhile for the usual insights into the making of the movie. All the key facts are preserved in some fashion.
In addition to being a tale about a whopping tall tale and a character study, this is a buddy movie. Gere and Molina are perfectly natural together. They're by turns Woodward and Bernstein, Butch and Sundance, and even a bit of Laurel and Hardy. Molina, especially, is a natural comic actor.
All the acting, direction, writing, and editing are top-drawer. If you're willing to accept the film for what it is, rather than as a failed documentary, you won't be disappointed. (And if you do enjoy the film, be sure to check out the extended dinner scene included in the extras. It can be pretty funny when improvisation works, and sometimes it's even funnier when it fails.)
I'd be happy to see a version that stuck closer to the facts, and maybe this movie could have been just as good or better without the made-up stuff, but I did have a lot of fun. Four or maybe four and a half stars, rounded up for the two audio commentary tracks.
(By the way, the quote in my review title refers to a dilemma facing sidekick Suskind in writing a completely different book. The line is in the movie purely for a laugh, of course.)
Rating: -
This film features great acting, an engaging story line, and is well directed. Richard Gere is perfect for the role of Clifford Irving, which begs the question: is Mr. Gere really a friend of the Dalai Lama or has he been pulling our collective leg.
Rating:  -
I bought this film because it was directed by Lasse Halstrom. I can't put my finger on it, but there was something missing in this film. I admit I may be biased because I'm not a Richard Gere fan, but this film seemed a bit lazy in places and not well developed in others. As far as the real story of Clifford Irving's shenanigans, it's hard to believe someone would go to such lengths to become famous and it's even harder to believe that he duped an entire industry. In the end though, while the subject matter made for some interesting history, the movie failed to fully flush out the characters and the reason for their indiscretions both publicly and privately.
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