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The movie walks a half-ponderous, half-intriguing tightrope: Can Mike’s talents as a male entertainer finally become both a legitimate source of professional satisfaction and an expression of ardent, unfeigned desire?

Leonard, despite his clearly unfeigned kindness, turns out to be the bearer of less-than-benevolent tidings.

“Didn’t have time to be nervous,” he said, with unfeigned modesty.

Yet, with unfeigned emotion, he repeated the Declaration’s stirring phrases and told his audience that Jefferson “left us so very, very much.”

But if “The Last Duel” hits some familiar notes, it hits them, more often than not, with both unfeigned anger and an invigoratingly dark sense of humor.