Richard Gere has still got it.
The one-time American Gigolo proves that he’s matured into a still-relevant leading man, harnessing his legendary screen charisma to make a rascal sympathetic in a fact-based account of fraud and chutzpah, “The Hoax.” Gere plays huckster Clifford Irving, who infamously duped the publishing world and the larger culture in the early ’70s by faking an “authorized” biography of the then still-living Howard Hughes.
Director Lasse Hallstrom and screenwriter William Wheeler adapt Irving’s memoir of that episode in a modern history time capsule full of compelling performances in a study of the force of one deluded man’s personality. It dabbles in themes of political corruption and human gullibility. Hallstrom, as in his other, better films “Chocolat” and “The Cider House Rules,” emphasizes full-bodied characterizations and detailed production visuals in his archly observant dramas that often run on a bit too long.
Thankfully, Gere makes a sprightly ringmaster in “Hoax.” The brilliant manipulator sucks in everyone around him to join his crazed circus including his fumbling professional collaborator David Susskind (Alfred Molina); his long-suffering wife Edith (Marcia Gay Harden); his self-serving editors Andrea Tate (Hope Davis) and Shelton Fisher (Stanley Tucci); and even his unbelievably glamorous mistress, the actress Nina Van Pallandt (Julie Delpy). In an interesting sidebar, the real-life Van Pallandt ended up playing Gere’s madam in “American Gigolo” years after the events depicted here.
The movie almost plays like farce for a while as Irving’s con gains momentum and the greed and self-interest of the various players make them all look like buffoons. But then the protagonist slowly begins to descend into paranoia as the hermit Mr. Hughes emerges to become directly involved in the growing public brouhaha over the pending book. The jig is up. An intriguing subplot even indicts Richard Nixon in the mess. It suggests that on the cusp of the Watergate scandal the notoriously shady late president was involved in a bribery scheme with Hughes, who ended up maneuvering the Irving scam to his benefit in that arena.
This juicy hearsay adds extra zing to an already good story with a worthy cast to perpetrate “The Hoax.”
‘The Hoax’
4/5 stars
Starring: Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Marcia Gay Harden
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Rated R for language
