The Hoax

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"I'm working on the most important book of the century," so says writer Clifford Irving (Gere) as he fobs off his pushy publisher. Forced to come up with an idea sharpish, Irving tells them that he is co-writing Howard Hughes' autobiography, one of the most enigmatic and reclusive men in the history of the world. This is gold dust to the publishing company McGraw-Hill and they offer him one million dollars to pen the book, an unprecedented advance in 1971. Of course, it's all a hoax - Irving has never even talked to Hughes - but that doesn't stop him and his bumbling researcher Dick Susskind (Molina) recording phoney interviews and dreaming up little stories to keep the McGraw-Hill happy and the money rolling in. However, when Life magazine smells a rat and begins snooping around, Irving's plan falls apart. Hallstrom's career has been up (Casanova) and down (An Unfinished Life) recently, and although The Hoax, based on a true story, has a lot going for it, it's far from What's Eating Gilbert Grape or My Life As A Dog. Holding the audience's attention steadfast for the most part, The Hoax's climatic dissolution into insanity is ill advised and Irving's unravelling mind isn't realised as well as it could have been. What is surprising is that Gere and Molina make an unusual and entertaining comic pairing: Irving's gift of the gab can get himself out of any situation - The Talented Mister Irving if you will - and coupled with Molina's nervousness that they will be rumbled at any moment, they get most of the laughs they aim for. Irving's brass neck and verbal diarrhoea is certainly endearing for a time, but on the whole he's a nothing character. A soulless, selfish adulterer, there's not a lot here to admire about him and when we don't have someone to root for, the movie loses the audience.