Review: The Double

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It takes two.

Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) might as well be a living, breathing door mat. He lets everyone walk all over him. He's been at his job for seven years, yet everyone thinks he just started. He has a crush on his neighbor/colleague Hannah (Mia Wasikowska) but won't do anything about it. Then one day his exact double shows up in the form of James Simon. He's calm, collected and wins over everyone around him. Simon knows he's got to go.

I never read Fydor Dostoevsky's novel, on which this is based on. Something tells me this would be better as a book than a film. I liked the tone, it was very dark and eerie but the pacing was terrible. It's almost painful to watch Simon try to make it throughout the day, I just wanted to tell him to "hurry up" half the time. It makes the film feel much longer than the hour and a half it really is.

I see online this draws a lot of comparisons to Enemy, another film in which the lead character finds his exact double. That's about all they have in common. Enemy was fantastic, and this shouldn't be in the same sentence. It's a shame too, because I love Eisenberg and Wasikowska, and they were good here, the film itself just didn't back them up.

Recommended: No

Grade: C

Memorable Quote: "Defense wins championships." - James Simon (Jesse Eisenberg)

Comments

  1. John GilpatrickSeptember 16, 2014 at 6:47 AM

    Yeah, I'm with you. Kinda felt like torture.

    ReplyDelete
  2. .September 16, 2014 at 9:13 AM

    It's funny because I can't stand Eisenberg most of the time, and still enjoyed this film way more than Enemy. And this is after I kept berating it with comparisons to Lynch and Gilliam. I actually dislike Enemy more than I did at the time of watching it. I don't think Richard Ayoade should ever be considered a "real" director with how much he's "inspired" by other directors, but I thought this film was a lot of fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 17, 2014 at 10:49 AM

      Thanks for sharing that. I love hearing other's POVs. It's nice to see something from the other side, because normally I was seeing praise for Enemy, and more "eh" for this one.

      Delete
  3. s.September 17, 2014 at 12:22 PM

    I think I'm gonna pass on this one, I really can stand Eisenberg in TSN. Just looking at him makes me nervous he is so twitchy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamSeptember 18, 2014 at 7:17 AM

      lol. That's an interesting way to describe him. He's good in Night Moves! That's another new one I saw recently.

      Delete
  4. s.September 17, 2014 at 12:23 PM

    *only in TSN :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. JoshDecember 2, 2014 at 2:43 PM

    I really liked this one, but I agree Enemy is definitely the better film.

    ReplyDelete

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