The Hoax
In what would cause a fantastic media frenzy, Clifford Irving sells his bogus biography of Howard Hughes to a premiere publishing house in the early 1970s.
Critics Sentiment
Irving records passages while impersonating Hughes with costume and mustache
Film suggests Irving's hoax led directly to Watergate burglary
The film drops from its peak during Irving's Hughes impersonation sequences to growing confusion and repetitiveness in the paranoid fantasy scenes.
The Hoax builds steadily from Irving's initial desperation through the elaborate con's peak moments, with critics consistently praising Gere and Molina's performances. The film's sentiment peaks during the central impersonation sequences but gradually declines as the plot becomes more convoluted and the ending feels forced. Overall, reviewers found it an entertaining but imperfect character study of a fascinating real-life fraud.
Full cast
Showing 20 of 29
Richard Gere
Clifford Irving
Alfred Molina
Dick Suskind
Marcia Gay Harden
Edith Irving
Hope Davis
Andrea Tate
Julie Delpy
Nina Van Pallandt
Stanley Tucci
Shelton Fisher
David Aaron Baker
Brad Silber
Mamie Gummer
Dana
Željko Ivanek
Ralph Graves
Eli Wallach
Noah Dietrich
Myk Watford
Sergent Daniels
John Bedford Lloyd
Frank Mccullough
Peter McRobbie
George Gordon Holmes
John Carter
Harold McGraw
James Biberi
McGraw-Hill Security
Christopher Evan Welch
Albert Vanderkamp
Raul Julia Jr.
Bike Messenger
Judi Barton
Marion
Milton Buras
Howard Hughes
Okwui Okpokwasili
Malika
Crew
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