Dinner parties can be such awkward occasions. For those throwing it, there’s all the preparation that goes into it, such as the food, guests with food allergies and where to sit them and whom to sit them next to.

And if you’re attending you have to consider what to bring – a bottle of something will suffice – and whether it’s too late to mention that you’re completely vegan now.

Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a sumptuous spy drama, that features a couple of dinner parties that although memorable, you probably wouldn’t want to be invited to.

Deciding to throw a small, intimate dinner party is George (Michael Fassbender). It will be slightly unusual as it will be for five work colleagues – including his own wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) – made even more unusual by the fact that all present are members of the British intelligence service.

All attending think it’s just a dinner, but George has an ulterior motive; he’s been told that one of them is a mole, selling national secrets, and he’s been tasked with discovering who it is.

He knows all of those fairly well, which makes it awks, but what happens if he finds out that it is his actual wife betraying his country – where will his loyalties lie then?

This is the third time that director Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp have collaborated, having made 2022’s Kimi and 2024’s Presence together.

It’s a Sahara dry spy flick that features a number of curious characters, none of whom are that likable. But even if you don’t have a dog in this particular race, there’s still a lot to admire.

Firstly there’s just the simple fact of having Fassbender and Blanchett share the screen; all the performances here are restrained, deliberately so, although there’s no reason why they couldn’t have all benefitted from an injection of personality, but at least these two get to semi-sizzle, which is better than no sizzle at all.

But you get the impression that Soderbergh is more interested in making the premise the hero of the narrative, like a story grenade that’s thrown in just to see how they all react to it.

It’s a sharp piece of writing, maybe a little too sharp for its own good in places, but there are enough twists to keep it interesting.

It’s also helped by a trademark David Holmes soundtrack, that certainly helps on the personality front, but there’s no denying it lacks the charisma of an Out of Sight for instance.

There’s an overall old school feel to proceedings – think Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - even the title refers to a metaphorical bag that that intelligence staff put work baggage into that can’t be discussed willy nilly – making for a fascinating plot, albeit one with a personality bypass, that’s all cool and no sass.