Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84% Richard Ayoade's loose adaptation of Dostoevsky's novella of the same name, The Double is a wonderful movie in many regards, but one which ultimately fails to render its premise in a way that feels relevant. That's to say, there are many things to like about it, including the brilliant, anonymously Eastern Bloc-styled production design, and Jesse Eisenberg's central performance. But have the critics simply gone easy on the movie as a "movie" because it's Dostoevsky? After all, an 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes pretty much suggests that this is a movie everyone should rush out to see as soon as possible, and though we'd say that was true for Ayoade's first film, the sublime and charming Submarine, The Double is more likely to frustrate the majority of movie-goers with its faux art movie stylings. Not to say, either, that you have to be smart to "get" The Double; just that, ultimately, it doesn't really feel like anything special.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
