Rating: 15/20
Plot: A nondescript working man is alarmed when his doppelganger starts working at his place of employment. They hit it off initially, but then the double, who is his polar opposite, starts to get in the way.
Dystopian shenanigans based on a story by Dostoevsky directed by Richard Ayoade, the guy who did Submarine? And featuring my favorite actor Jesse Eisenberg? I never thought I'd say this about a member of the Eisenberg family, but I like the guy now. But it's almost in a Crispin Glover sort of way. The guy's not got much range, but he gravitates toward interesting roles and has developed a screen persona that is just his. Eisenberg barely has the range to pull off playing two characters who look identical but have opposite personalities, but there's a lot he does physically to make it work--slouches, gesticulations, different gaits. It's a nice, effortless performance. I really liked the world Ayoade creates here, one that is bleakly neo-Kafkian but with all these little details--like old school telephones--that give it a uniqueness. And the tone is more like what would happen if Kafka was still around and decided to take a crack at sitcom writing, complete with Japanese pop music. My favorite moments are an "I Was Born in West Virginia" song at the Colonel's ball, the line "I would tear the asshole off an elephant for a piece of trim I wanted that bad," finding out that ice cream cones are gay just like riding on a motorcycle with another man is gay, and a conversation Simon has with his mother where she says, "This used to be my favorite song," although no music is playing. There's absurdist humor, but again, it's got that Kafka-esque vibe which makes you slightly nervous about the whole thing. It's the type of world where this conversation can happen:
Police person: You're not going to commit suicide, are you?
Simon: No.
Other police person: Should I put him down for a no?
Police person: Put him down as a maybe.
Throw in a great music video and a glimpse of television soap operas in the future and a denouement that is either open to interpretation or something that I just thought too much about. It's all a little familiar--think Gilliam--but still manages to be refreshingly original. And if I didn't already say it, it's very funny.
Jesse Eisenberg's sister Hallie Kate is, as far as I can think of, the only woman who I'd like to go back in time just so I could punch her as a little girl. Does this sentence even make sense?
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