it's wednesday , march 27 , and a murder investigation is underway in charlotte , south carolina . 
the crime : a young prostitute , elizabeth ( renee zellweger ) , has been brutally slain . 
one half of her severed body was found in a bag at the train station . 
the other half was discovered in a trunk at the harbor authority , miles away . 
the police duo of braxton ( chris penn ) and kennesaw ( michael rooker ) are strapped for leads . 
at the moment , they have only one possible suspect : wayland ( tim roth ) , a wealthy , unemployed genius who graduated summa cum laude from princeton and appears to be the least likely character to commit such a heinous act . 
that's the premise for deceiver , a new thriller from the pate brothers , jonas and josh , who made their mark on the film world two years ago at sundance with the movie the grave . 
deceiver plays out like a mind game between the intellectually superior wayland and the two not- so-bright cops ( captions early in the proceedings let us know that wayland's iq is 151 ; by contrast , kennesaw's is 122 and braxton's is 102 ) . 
the setting is a police interrogation room where a lie detector test is about to be administered . 
over three days , as wayland returns to answer more questions , the drama and tension among these three characters gradually escalates until , inevitably , it boils over . 
other plot elements are thrown in for good measure . 
wayland suffers from a peculiar kind of epilepsy that can , in stressful situations , render him virtually catatonic or extremely violent . 
braxton , a compulsive gambler , is deep in debt to a local syndicate . 
and kennesaw is haunted by a dark , abusive side that delights in terrorizing women , especially his wife ( rosanna arquette ) , whom he suspects of being unfaithful . 
the foibles and failings of these three are brought into the open as the mystery around elizabeth's death deepens and it becomes unclear who has the upper hand : the suspect or his questioners . 
deceiver , which mostly transpires in a dimly-lit room and involves a lot of smart dialogue , has the feel of a david mamet play : edgy , claustrophobic , and tense . 
the atmosphere is explosive , and some of pivotal moments of confrontation are riveting . 
deceiver has the power to grab an audience . 
unfortunately , in the end , it succumbs to the need to throw in one last , unexpected twist , and this is its undoing . 
for , while this surprise will certainly shock most viewers , it also stretches our credulity too much , and raises more questions than it answers . 
it's only an effective wrap-up if you don't think too carefully about its full implications . 
of course , the film as a whole plays fast and loose with reality and logic . 
police procedure is totally ignored and it's almost impossible to accept that any criminal investigation would or could proceed in this manner . 
but the real focus in deceiver is on character interaction , not plot details . 
deceiver only occasionally gets out of the police station , and those instances occur primarily during flashbacks featuring the prostitute . 
the pates employ a number of interesting techniques to present vignettes from elizabeth's final days and hours . 
the most intriguing of these is to use an unreliable narrator while underlining the discrepancies in his voice-over by visually showing what really happened . 
moments like this are too effective to be dismissed as gimmicks . 
the movie , obviously fashioned in the manner of classic film noir , drips atmosphere . 
there are some fascinating stylistic touches ; for example , although the setting is contemporary , all of the telephones are old-fashioned , rotary models . 
cinematographer bill butler is given an opportunity to use unconventional camera work to liven up deceiver's look . 
some of the things he tries ( mostly those that involve the contrast between light and shadow ) work exceptionally well , while others ( like any of several lazy susan shots ) seem more like unnecessary visual tricks . 
as wayland , tim roth gives the film's top performance , despite occasionally treading the tightrope between acting and overacting . 
roth makes us believe that wayland is both as brilliant and as troubled as he's supposed to be . 
the other two leads , chris penn and michael rooker , aren't as effective . 
both play their characters like familiar types . 
penn's performance is uninspired ; rooker's lacks subtlety . 
some of the best work is turned in by the supporting actors . 
renee zellweger , in a role that's miles away from her star-making turn in jerry maguire , brings a note of vulnerability and humanity to a part that could easily have become a caricature . 
rosanna arquette is solid as kennesaw's wife , and michael parks delivers several wonderful scenes as a psychiatrist who's entrusted with evaluating wayland's condition . 
one of the best things about deceiver is that it never talks down to the audience . 
plot points aren't hammered home , and , although the ending has its weaknesses , everything isn't spelled out in bold letters . 
the pates give audience members credit for having brains , which is an increasingly rare characteristic for film makers . 
occasionally gripping and never uninteresting , deceiver is a fine noir effort .