Fraud Reigns

A story about a fake memoir set in an age of war protests, political corruption, "The Hoax" - director Lasse Hallström's wonderfully dark adaptation of the true story of Clifford Irving - couldn't be more relevant. In 1971, Cliff (Richard Gere), a struggling writer with a Swedish-German artist wife (Marcia Gay Harden) and mounds of debt, needs to find a publisher. Desperate for attention from his agent, Cliff guarantees a novel that will be "the story of the century". With the help of friend and fellow struggling writer Dick Susskind (Alfred Molina), Cliff concocts a plan to write the only authorized biography of Howard Hughes. The only problem: the "authorized" part.

"The Hoax" is a delightfully dry look at America's fascination with money and success, set firmly against the backdrop of Watergate and Vietnam. The film follows Cliff as he cleverly convinces McGraw-Hill, "Life" magazine and most of the publishing world, that he has the ear of the notoriously reclusive billionaire. Cliff's close-calls and quick-thinking have a "Catch Me If You Can" vibe, but the film's humor is a bit darker than that Speilberg/DiCaprio gem.

You'd have to look back decades to find a Richard Gere performance to rival this one. It's a cliché to compare an actor's return to form to John Travolta's "Pulp Fiction" turn. But that's not the case with Mr. Gere. In "The Hoax", Mr. Gere does more than make a comeback; he takes his best qualities to the next level. He matures the persona he's been riding throughout the 90s. In "The Hoax", the actor's trademark smarm and Teflon-smooth talking are perfectly served. You'd have to go back to the early 80s of "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "American Gigolo" to find such a true performance (irony intended) from the actor.

The same holds for the film's director. Mr. Hallström's films typically descend from promising beginnings into schmaltzy pap ("The Shipping News", "Chocolat", "The Cider House Rules", to name a few). But with "The Hoax", the director is having Scorsese moment. The film has that kind of zippy pacing and vibrant camerawork. And the ending montage, set to the Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is pure "Goodfellas" magic. Mr. Hallström hasn't wielded such a sure, unsentimental hand behind the camera since 1993's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape".

The film is also stuffed to the gills with fantastic supporting players. Mr. Molina is superb as Cliff's unwitting accomplice and resident comic relief. Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci and Eli Wallach (always a pleasure to see him) are also on hand. The casting of Ms. Harden in the role of Cliff's wife is odd at first - weren't there any Swedish actresses available? But Ms Harden is such a fine actress that she powers through it. A subplot featuring Julie Delpy as Cliff's mistress threatens to derail the film, but even that pays off.

The film is driven by the endlessly clever screenplay by relative newcomer William Wheeler, based on the novel by Mr. Irving, of course. By definition, it's impossible to know what's true and what's a lie in Mr. Irving's account of the story, but the fun - and the irony - is how plausible is all turns out to be. It's also refreshing to see that Mr. Wheeler - and Mr. Irving - don't pull any punches in their depiction of the author. Cliff is a bad man. A pathological liar. He's not only unwilling to stop, he may very well be unable to. It's a tribute to Mr. Gere's performance that we continue to root for him regardless. Despite his lies and dirty tricks, the actor finds the truth in the character.