“The Hoax” tells the story of the man who wrote the false autobiography of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.
The movie starts with writer Clifford Irving’s literary disappointments, which flourish into his scheme of writing the book of the decade, an autobiography of Hughes. Based on a true story, the film follows how Irving deceived many people in gathering his information to write the book, which actually was published in 1971.
Richard Gere plays Irving masterfully in a performance that gives all liars a good name. Almost every twist is infused with his lies.
Dick Suskind , played by Alfred Molina, is the sidekick to Irving. His performance of a stumbling, nervy researcher couldn’t have been better as time and time again he looked the part of someone who could give anyone a heart attack.
Although the acting in this R-rated movie is very well done by both Gere and Molina, the storyline itself was confusing at times. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom. It jumped around so much that at times, I wondered which parts were a dream and which were real?
It’s hard to see a person lie as much as this movie’s characters. One after the other, it was as though there was a never ending stream which gave a negativity to it and only made me pity the movie and characters even more.
The Hoax is good in that it keeps the audience entertained and consistently keeps their attention. The frequent jumps and constant hoaxes skew my rating of the movie.
My rating: C+