Deceived is a dreary thriller in the day when washed out thrillers were a Hollywood standard- The 90's are all about the thriller. The movie never became popular. People argue that audiences did not want to see the gloriously mis-cast Hawn in something serious; it could be said that her character was too trusting too naive. Frankly I think she did a good job at suspending disbelief (acting dumb) until the plot demands, and no matter what anyone says, Hawn back in the day was exceedingly watchable. Leave it to Hollywood to let a variable like the lead actress take the blame for the entire picture tanking.
What I find odd though now, looking back on the movie Deceived is my unrelenting sense of deja vu which had me thinking that I may have seen this movie's plot in play before. That's when it hit me. Deceived is basically a variation (and consequently un-funny version) of Outrageous Fortune. A loved one dies, pretending to be someone he is not, is involved in something that is less than above-board involving something that could make him a lot of money. The loose ends must be tied up, like pesky spouses that become aware of their husband's extracurricular activities.
After making a heretofor unseen connection, it took exactly five seconds to realize that both of these movies may just be shake-down versions of Charade with the mildly comic engenue of the day, Audrey Hepburn.
Everyone knows that a problem exists in Hollywood of finding truely unique scripts; which is becoming more and more obvious everyday. But were these coincidences a product of unoriginality or more a function of the statement the studios behind these vehicles were trying to make? In other words, was Deceived a announcement of movie star ascension? Were they, in fact, saying Goldie Hawn IS this later generation's Audrey Hepburn? The finer points of that discussion could be argued for quite some time, but the question remains in my mind as comparisons between the two films were likely to have been drawn during pre-production.
The movie Decieved is still at least a decent watch, as long as you do not anticipate any kind of real thrills. Even a re-hashed movie starring such likeable characters like John Heard and the afformentioned actress, Hawn, takes on a kind of life after the film. The climax is engaging, though plots like the deceiving spouse may seem common these days in many people's lives onscreen and off.