The Double – Radio Film Review

Jesse Eisenberg (left) has some issues with Jesse Eisenberg (right) in THE DOUBLE.
Jesse Eisenberg (left) has some issues with Jesse Eisenberg (right) in THE DOUBLE.

Okay, put away THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2. That film has already caused so much pain (mostly from brain-strain as one struggles to figure out how such a major project could go so wrong), that it doesn’t really deserve any more consideration. Let’s focus instead on something more worthy of attention: a dystopic, Kafkaesque comedy called THE DOUBLE, based on a novella by Dostoevsky and starring Jesse Eisenberg as a mousy little bureaucrat who finds his life upended when his job hires a charismatic and morally-challenged new employee who looks exactly like him. The film is directed by Richard Ayoade — known for his involvement with THE IT CROWD and GARTH MARENGHI’S DARKPLACE — and he uses his facility with unhinged humor to good effect in this sardonic glimpse into one man’s crisis of identity. Click on the player to hear the show.