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

The Hoax

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That is a lie. Watch how cooly Irving lies throughout the short interview section. There is absolutely no proof that Irving ever received or possessed the anonymous materials about a Nixon-Hughes connection portrayed in the film. Irving was the second-rate novelist, despite what the movie contends, who defrauded the publishing world and the general public with a fraudulent "autobiography" of multimillionaire Howard Hughes ("Aviator" is a terrific must see and factual movie about Hughes). Clifford Irving had as much to do with bringing about the Watergate break-in as he did with writing a Hughes biography, building the Three Gorges Dam in China, or discovering Bigfoot; absolutely nothing.

All of the White House conversations are made up by the filmmakers, taking artistic license to a new depth. Richard Gere's performance is not very good. To foist upon the viewing public the original liar's new set of lies as fact is seriously dumb. Shame on Hallstrom.

She is the best of the cast at exuding an air of wanting it to be true, even though she has serious doubts. Before watching the movie, one should first watch the "special feature" showing an embarrassed Mike Wallace, one of Irving's many victims, explaining how he was duped. Hallstrom has no excuse to believe Irving's new set of lies the second time around. She does a tremendous job of combining trust of Irving with her own ambitions. 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. But then there comes the problem of the plot.

The portrayal of an Irving connection to the Watergate affair is a lie; one might even call it a hoax. The payoff is just so big. The assertion by the filmmakers at the end of the movie about a Watergate tie-in is a desperate attempt try to lend credibility to a ridiculous assertion. Wallace has an excuse for being duped, since he was lied to the first time around. Hope Davis, as Andrea Tate, is great as the McGraw-Hill executive pushing the hardest for the publication of Irving's hoax. Shame on Clifford Irving.

Alfred Molina does a very nice job with his role as Irving's reluctant, nervous, but hopelessly subservient friend. It is truly amazing that the director, Lasse Hallstrom, made "The Hoax" using as his source a fraudulent book of a different kind written by Irving, the original con man himself. "The Hoax" proves again that once a liar always a liar. "The Hoax" is based upon a book by Clifford Irving. People keep referring to Gere's Irving in the movie as cool though his performance is anything but that.

Marcia Gay Harden does a good job with the confining role she was given as Irving's wife. Seriously dumb to believe it. Then decide if you can bring yourself to believe Irving's version of events as portrayed in "The Hoax." . "The Hoax" is a terrible movie despite some very good performances. In the mountain of reporting surrounding Watergate, to my knowledge, Clifford Irving was never mentioned as having any connection with it.

It's a legacy that Irving and, by extension, the rest of us have had to live with for close to forty years now. For there's something about the human psyche that allows us to believe we can get away with fooling all of the people all of the time and not get caught in the end. Alfred Molina, with his nervous tics, deer-in-the-headlights expression and beads of sweat constantly pouring down his forehead, is a joy to behold in every scene he's in. "The Hoax" joins such recent films as "Catch Me If You Can" and "Color Me Kubrick" in its portrayal of a true-life figure who weaves an ever more tangled web of lies and deceit to achieve fame, fortune or, at the very least, a little boost for his own deflated ego. Much of the fun of "The Hoax" lies in watching as these two concomitant emotions do battle on the field of Irving's conscience - his intoxication with himself growing the longer he is able to pull off his scam without getting caught, and his flights of panic becoming ever more pronounced as the scheme begins to gradually unravel around him. As Irving, Richard Gere, who has rarely been better on screen, captures this manic energy to a tee, his sense of personal conquest reflected in the barest twinkle in his eyes.

By the end of the movie, the filmmakers have done a pretty effective job blurring the lines between what really happened and what would appear to be the elaborate paranoid delusions of a man who has lied so much that he can no longer differentiate fact from fantasy. . Yet, paradoxically, there is also the adrenalin-rush created by the suspicion ever lurking in the recesses of our minds that we won't be able to pull it off in the end. Isn't that the thinking that goes into virtually every crime that's committed - this sense that we can game the system and the mindless dolts who operate within it without ourselves becoming exposed in the process.

In the final analysis, then, "The Hoax" is a morality tale about the perils of dishonesty and deception, as evidenced by the fact that Clifford's book and its influence on Nixon helped to usher in the Watergate era (the little-known connection between the billionaire and the president is just one of the many stunning revelations to be found in this film). In fact, the only people who knew what was really going on were his wife, his mistress and his best friend and fellow author, Richard Suskind, who was roped into helping Irving pull off his mind-boggling ruse. The movie is particularly hilarious in the scenes involving Suskind, the friend who can't resist the lure of untold riches but who clearly lacks the nerves of iron one requires for a life of crime. Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Stanley Tucci and Eli Wallach in a delightful cameo appearance round out the excellent cast. 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 on the up-and-up.

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. Writer William Wheeler and director Lasse Hallstrom keep the tone light and fast-paced for the most part so as to avoid turning the material into a heavy-handed ethical statement about the cost of dishonesty and lying, though the last half hour cuts deep as a cautionary tale for all would-be frauds and phonies out there who might be planning a similar stunt.

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). I was astonished that Clifford Irving seemingly didn't really care that he was creating lies on top of lies.

His obsession with "The Hoax" was so powerful, he began to believe he was actually meeting Howard Hughes. I really enjoyed this movie and felt there were no flat spots in it; due in part, to Irving's constant juggling of lies between the publishers and everyone else suspicious of his and Suskind's dealings.

Richard Gere was perfect.

Also the perceived reality (dreams) that he was kidnapped by the CIA to answer to Hughes about the whole deception. And the persistent paranoia of Dick Suskind (in which Irving blew off, most of the time) that ended up permeating the mind of Irving himself, in the end.

This movie really held my attention. Particularly entertaining were the scenes when Irving took on the persona of Howard Hughes ( by listening to tape recordings of him) in attempts to actually "feel" the inner sanctum of the Hughes psyche.

But not one he thought he'd write. That also is part of this story. They are portrayed as a bunch of stupid empty suits without an original thought. At the critical moment his best friend & ex-wife lose their nerve & crack.

He totally cons McGraw-Hill into publishing. 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. But his research is complete & impeccable. Irving does end up writing a best seller. By this time Hughes was a raging paranoid & not capable of rational thought.

He is so smooth & they are so greedy. They are dubious at first. Only his lawyer & best friend Richard Sussman played by Al Molina, knows & helps. The biggest would be the one we don't know about. He's a writer over his head in debt & desperate to write a best-seller.

But he did have loyal minions. He almost succeeds. Richard Gere does a pretty good job as Clifford Irving. frauds of the 20th century. Of course, Irving was confident that Hughes would not appear to contradict him.

All three of the primary characters have wonderful moments. Molina's tragic realization of a man who discovers he has been unfaithful is touching, and Harden's "chance to be clean" speech has some of the best lines written for a lover's quarrel that I've seen on film. This movie, and the book is it derived from, are based on the true story of Clifford Irving's actual con of McGraw-Hill and the American public. Hughes doesn't go out, right. Looks like Irving found a story that would sell after all.

He works with his trusted researcher, Dick Suskind (Molina), and his wife Edith (Harden) to produce a reasonable account of Hughes' life. Copies of the book are printed and are on the verge of being distributed. He doesn't talk to anyone. But when the billionaire decides to make a rare public statement, Clifford's carefully constructed hoax folds like a house of cards. Then, he begins concocting the hoax of a lifetime. Bills are mounting, Clifford's pride is wounded, and he keeps getting the brush-off from his contact at McGraw-Hill. And the ultimate con.

No one will really know if the autobiography is truly authorized or not. He fakes letters from Hughes, aborted visits to the publishing house, the whole nine yards. Clifford sells his idea to McGraw-Hill with little more than a few forged letters.

He doesn't make personal phone calls, and a recent legal settlment means the eccentric man won't set foot in a courtroom to prosecute. Clifford Irving (Gere) is a writer. 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 the definitive autobiography of Howard Hughes from the reclusive billionaire himself.

Perofrmances in this film were great. As Clifford takes on Hughes' persona, Gere does some great work as a writer who finds himself in his subject. Problem is, he's having a tough time getting his books published.

The Hoax, starring Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, and Marcia Gay Harden, is an interesting look at hubris and the art of a con. When the book is complete, the publisher is thrilled with the result, and even interviewers who have actually spoken to Hughes himself agree that the manuscript is genuine.