A footnote in the life of Howard Hughes, author Clifford Irving's almost-successful attempt to publish a bogus autobiography of the reclusive billionaire, becomes a playful exploration of deception and the pursuit of success in Lasse Hallström's The Hoax. Richard Gere and Alfred Molina shine as the compulsive, smooth Irving and his amiable, nervous accomplice, Dick Susskind. And Hallström's direction is strong, firm and stylish without distracting from the twisty plot and the angle-playing anti-hero it revolves around. If there's a definite flaw, it's the screenplay's occasional tendency to lapse into forced sociopolitical message-delivering mode. Irving's con and descent into paranoid madness is far more fascinating and entertaining than a flimsy connection his crime and the resulting flash-in-the-pan media coverage may or may not have to the Watergate Scandal and destruction of Richard Nixon's presidency. Despite this misstep, The Hoax is a great time at the movie theatre: a fun ride about a liar and his greatest lie similar to Steven Spielberg's brilliant Catch Me If You Can in tone and appeal. A-.

Saw the sneak preview. Fairly entertaining film about a man who can't stop lying and how the lies get him way in over his head.

Grade - B

Pretty fun, entertaining movie (B+) if you watch if with the mindset that the movie itself is a hoax tall tale rather than a factual re-imagination. Alfred Molina steals every scene he's in.

A masterclass in fabrication that in the end collapses under the weight of it's own lies. Lots 'o' fun along the way, though - but then again, the road to ruin so often is...

6 out of 5.

(Note: This grade is a lie.)