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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Brand: GERE,RICHARD EAN: 0786936702019 Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Miramax Languages: Manufacturer: Miramax MPN: DISD50339D Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Miramax Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 16, 2007 Running Time: 115 minutes Studio: Miramax Theatrical Release Date: April 20, 2007 Editorial Review: Product Description: Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/28/2008 Run time: 115 minutes Rating: R Amazon.com: The Hoax is a happy surprise. Surprise because, for once, having a film's release date bumped back half a year didn't mean it's a dog. Happy because Lasse Hallström's dancing-on-eggshells comedy about a notorious literary scandal of the 1970s is bounteously entertaining, with more solid laughs and certainly slyer wit than, say, the latest Will Ferrell romp. The subject is the world-shaking con an unsuccessful writer named Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) ran on some supposedly sharp cookies in the highest echelons of Manhattan publishing. Irving persuaded McGraw-Hill and Life magazine that ultra-reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes had selected him to transcribe his memoirs. It's pure balderdash, a desperate improvisation by a glib-talker who's perennially one jump ahead of the repo men. But the epic audacity of Irving's scam, the quicksilver way he weaves imaginary and accidental real-life details into beguiling patterns, and the legendary self-isolation of his supposed subject all conspire to keep the fiction afloat ... for a while. This story isn't new to cinema, though few reviewers seem aware of that. In 1973 Orson Welles told it as part of F for Fake, a kaleidoscopic meditation on art, forgery, and the slipperiness of media, in which the real-life Irving was a semi-witting participant. But there's no need to beat up on The Hoax for being inferior to that postmodern masterpiece. Hallström and a deft cast do a killer job on the skyscraper corporate world where there are always more people in the room than there are useful purposes for them to serve (see especially Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci, and Zjelko Ivanek); Marcia Gay Harden summons up a daft Viking serenity as spouse Edith Irving, a.k.a. "Helga R. Hughes"; and Alfred Molina rates a supporting Oscar nod for his balletic suspension between bemusement and panic attack as Dick Suskind, Irving's researcher accomplice and conscience-in-default. As for the con artist in chief, Richard Gere dials back the narcissism of previous performances to limn a schmuck just suave enough to seduce even himself. --Richard T. Jameson Average Rating:
 Rating:  - First Time Shame on Him, Second Time Shame on..."The Hoax" is a terrible movie despite some very good performances. Richard Gere's performance is not very good. He plays the role of Clifford Irving with too much intensity, closer to his fabulous character in "Breathless," than to the real Clifford Irving who was as cool as the proverbial cucumber. People keep referring to Gere's Irving in the movie as cool though his performance is anything but that. Alfred Molina does a very nice job with his role as Irving's reluctant, nervous, ... Read More Rating:  - "Oh, what a tangled web..."In the early 1970's, a struggling novelist by the name of Clifford Irving came up with a humdinger of a way to sell his next book: he duped his publishers and the world-at-large into believing that Howard Hughes had personally authorized him to pen the reclusive billionaire`s much sought-after autobiography. Through elaborate trickery and some shrewd undercover work, Irving managed to bamboozle a whole cadre of literary agents and publishers into thinking that both he and the story he was telling were ... Read More Rating: - Great movie on a Hoax of epic proportionsThis movie really held my attention. Richard Gere was perfect. I was astonished that Clifford Irving seemingly didn't really care that he was creating lies on top of lies. Well, yeah he cared enough to continue the deception so that he, his wife Edith (Marcia Gay Harden) and his cohort Dick Suskind (Alfred Molina) were always one step ahead of being uncovered (almost). His obsession with "The Hoax" was so powerful, he began to believe he was actually meeting Howard Hughes. Particularly entertaining ... Read More Rating: - Right up there with Hitler's Diary as one of the biggestfrauds of the 20th century. The biggest would be the one we don't know about. Richard Gere does a pretty good job as Clifford Irving. He's a writer over his head in debt & desperate to write a best-seller. He hatches a scheme to write Howard Hughes biography, as told to him via conversations & phone calls. Why the reclusive billionaire would talk only through him is not exactly clear. Only his lawyer & best friend Richard Sussman played by Al Molina, knows & helps. He totally cons McGraw-Hill into publishing. They ... Read More Rating:  - Con man extraordinaireThe Hoax, starring Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, and Marcia Gay Harden, is an interesting look at hubris and the art of a con. Clifford Irving (Gere) is a writer. Problem is, he's having a tough time getting his books published. Bills are mounting, Clifford's pride is wounded, and he keeps getting the brush-off from his contact at McGraw-Hill. Desperate for a book idea that will sell, Clifford comes up with what he thinks is a brilliant plan - he'll tell his agent that he's received authorization to write ... Read More |
