This is a great movie. It's an old fashioned spy versus spy movie. Now that the Cold War is over, all the spies are working for the private sector but otherwise things are business as usual. It's also a throwback to the 1930s romances with the likes of Cary Grant and Kate Hepburn, except that here our lovers are spies. Clive Owen is a real charmer and Julia Roberts isn't at all bad either.

Mostly what this movie does is thoroughly demolish the old myth that relationships must be built on trust. For here we have two characters who are totally incapable of trust. Maybe it's their line of work as spooks, or maybe they are good at their work because of the way they think. Maybe they just leaned the truth about Santa Claus at too early an age. Whatever the reason, they cannot trust anyone or anything. And to tell the truth (never their first impulse) they aren't all that trustworthy either. But they do have a good relationship, based around the pleasure of each other's company and the many things they have in common.