Lies

It's been a good year for fans of Mary Elizabeth Winstead--she's already starred in two films, Faults and Alex Of Venice.  They might not be playing wide, but that's why Los Angeles is the film capital.  Faults was better piece, but it's still nice to see her in Alex.  It was not so nice to see this squib in the LA Weekly about the movie.

(What follows will be spoilers of a title that will not be appearing in a theatre near you.) Winstead plays an environmental lawyer, fighting against development of Los Angeles marsh land. Just once I'd like to see the protagonist of a film be on the side of the developers.

Her husband walks out, and in a subplot, her character has a fling with the guy who's behind the building she's against.  Here's how Pete Vonder Haar describes this in the Weekly:

[Alex is] abetted by [...] Derek Luke as a deceptively charming enemy real estate developer.

Where does Vonder Haar get the idea he's "deceptively" charming.  When they meet--by chance--and he picks her up, she already knows who he is, and he knows who she is.  He doesn't try to pretend he's anything he's not, or fool her into changing her mind.  They remain opponents in court and he's the one who still wants to talk after the case (which, admittedly, she loses), while she walks away.  Unfortunately, Vonder Haar is so prejudiced against real estate developers (as he proves in his parenthetical comments along the way) that he can't imagine the character's charm is anything but deceptive.