Rare straight role for Goldie Hawn--no yucking it up here--is a totally serious part, a departure from the rest of her oeuvre. She portrays the happy wife to a husband who dies under supposed tragic circumstances, only for her investigation into his past turning up results she couldn't possibly have prepared for. John Heard is mainly involved in the ending with Hawn doing a lot of the heavy dramatic lifting. This part for Hawn features a rather aching, somber, and frustrated character; learning that your loving husband is a totally completely person, her Adrienne having to come to terms with some harsh realities, the role requires a certain type of disturbed, unsettled, and saddened temperament/response to the developments that transpire during her investigation. Heard's calm and rather ordinary phone call to Hawk, having their daughter in his possession, demanding the jewel necklace, and wanting her not to phone the police (or tell the woman next to her what their conversation's about) proves just how much of a sociopath he really is. Heard does lose it at the end when he must explain to Hawn that he does what is necessary when he has her cornered and seemingly at his mercy. Moody photography is a major plus even if a lot of the Hollywood devices (cat jumping out, pigeons flocking about out the window, the eye peering through the crack of a closet door, the little girl complaining to mommy in horror that a man was in her room) typical in these types of thrillers are used throughout. Doesn't invent the wheel, but Deceived should be of interest to fans of Goldie. The loud sound effects and noisy, obtrusive score, especially at the end when Heard is after Goldie and the necklace, can be a bit overbearing, but I like this change of pace for Hawn, trying a different genre (although, Foul Play was kind of comic thriller), and not relying on her gifted comedy skills must have been a challenge worth taking. Identity theft, so prevalent today, works its way into the investigation revealing Heard for the fraud that he is.

The immediate reaction to watching this stylish psychological thriller is to question why Goldie Hawn didn't feature in more movies of this type. Her seemingly natural ability to convey the types of shock, confusion and distress that her character feels as she uncovers some of her husband's long-held secrets is extraordinary and equally impressive is the way in which she displays a combination of strength and vulnerability that's absolutely convincing. At various points in the story, she shows fear, determination and horror as she gradually recognises the full extent of her husband's treachery and in so doing, highlights aspects of her talent that were never able to be shown in her numerous comedy roles.

Goldie Hawn isn't the only reason for watching this movie, however, as it's also well-directed visually strong and frequently suspenseful.

Adrienne (Goldie Hawn) is a successful art restorer who meets museum curator Jack Saunders (John Heard) at her workplace. This is an apparent coincidence, as the night before, at a restaurant, she'd mistaken him for the man she was supposed to be meeting on a blind date where she was stood-up. The couple get married and for six years enjoy what seems to be the perfect marriage. Things change though, after one of Jack's colleagues, who was examining an ancient Egyptian necklace at the time, is murdered and Jack believes that the finger of suspicion is being pointed at him.

Around the same time, Adrienne finds various pieces of evidence which indicate that Jack had lied to her about his whereabouts etc. but her smooth-talking husband always manages to come up with some sort of explanation. After one such occasion, they argue and a little while after he leaves their apartment, she's informed by the police that he's been killed in a car accident. Some time later, through some information that she's given by her social security office, it comes to light that Jack had been using a false identity for many years and so Adrienne decides to carry out her own investigation to discover the truth about the man she knew as Jack. This puts her and her five-year-old daughter in great danger as she gradually uncovers the staggering scale of her husband's duplicity.

John Heard does well as the very conventional and respectable-looking Jack and conveys his character's combination of superficial charm and coldness very effectively. The threatening atmosphere that builds up as the movie progresses is also skilfully developed with Adrienne being placed in locations (dark corridors etc.) which accentuate her vulnerability and director Damian Harris having some fun by startling his audience at various junctures with the help of a screeching cat and some fluttering pigeons etc. "Deceived" may not be ground-breaking material but it is very enjoyable, nicely-twisted and extremely well-paced.

It's really admirable for Goldie Hawn to have tried something different, and after two decades of romantic comedies, starring in a thriller probably seemed like a great idea. This film is successful as far as her performance is concerned, but she's surrounded by a very messed up script with tons of twists that take forever to lead to any kind of resolution which includes an alleged suicide, identity theft and the murder of several minor characters. Hawn starts off the film as a single woman on a blind date (who allegedly never shows up) and the sudden arrival of John Heard at her place of work to deliver something I turned out to be the man sitting in the restaurant who's watching her all along. They have a happy marriage with daughter Ashley Pheldon, but all of a sudden, she catches him in some lies and he is soon presumed killed in a car accident. When she learns from the Social Security office that the number that he used was not his social security number and that the person whose name who used had died years before, she begins to investigate to find the truth out, getting much more than she bargained for.

Filmed in Toronto to represent a New York City setting, this is interesting and well acted (although Pheldon does begin to grate on the nerves as she did with me as Marah on "Guiding Light" with her helium baby voice and over accentuation on words), and I did remain intrigued even though I was often annoyed with twist that didn't make sense. Kate Reid has a great cameo as Heard's mother, with Beatrice Straight barely more than an extra as Hawn's mother. When Pheldon and her dead father are reunited, she barely registers any emotion. This is the type of film that you can enjoy in spite of all the aggravation that it causes, but Hawn is always fun to watch, and allows a few unintentional comical moments out of frustration with the situation to come out. It's the build-up to the very dramatic conclusion that will keep the audience interested, but I wish they had analyzed the script a little bit more to have made it more clear-cut and less of a mess.