Jesse Eisenberg: 5 Awesome Performances & 5 That Sucked

3. Simon James/James Simon - The Double (2013)

Another Eisenberg film, another odd couple romantic pairing. This time, he plays Simon James, a downtrodden worker with a crush on Mia Wasikowska’s Hannah. But it’s not just Wasikowska that Eisenberg has to play opposite – it’s also himself.

That’s right, in a Tom Hardy-in-Legend or Lindsay Lohan-in-Parent Trap (the best one, obviously – but that’s a different article) turn, Eisenberg also plays James Simon, Simon James’ identical doppelganger. Get it? Because it’s just his name, reversed…

Anyway, Eisenberg puts in a superb double whammy as both the passive Simon and the outgoing James, who eventually butt (matching) heads over Hannah. Richard Ayoade’s script and direction set the scene for a surreal Brazil-like dark comedy in which Eisenberg delivers all of the (non) punchlines with razor-sharp deadpan. How can a pan be razor-sharp? Don’t ask me, but it works.

The Double hinges on Eisenberg’s performance(s) and he absolutely nails it/them. Many critics felt that it was his best work since The Social Network – even though the film had a much smaller audience than a Fincher movie about the biggest website in the world.

If you haven’t seen it, you really should – not least for the brilliant and shocking ending, which works all thanks to Eisenberg.