Best unintentional comedy of last year goes to this poorly scripted shambles. Richard Gere is brought out of retirement and partnered with Topher Grace to track down a Russian assassin that has been missing for years, but has finally resurfaced. First of all, let's deal with the twist that was given away in the trailer. It is revealed in the first 30 minutes that Gere is in fact the assassin he is hunting. The hilarity comes from none of the other characters realising this. It verged on spoof at times. Gere gets angry and starts shouting as he tries to convince colleagues that Hassan is the assassin. Grace seems unsure, then after Gere is pretty much crossing his fingers and yelling "I hope he falls for this", Grace agrees and then Gere looks relieved. For an undercover assassin he has the worst poker face. I'd love to edit out the reveal, and see how quickly people guess. Alarm bells should be ringing at the stupidity of this script from the very beginning. Gere is at a children's baseball game and starts chatting with a young mother "Which kid is yours?" she asks. "Oh no, I live close by and just come and watch every now and again." Brief pause, how is she going to react? "Oh, that's so sweet." No it isn't. It's creepy and sinister. As it goes on I got many a great chuckle and even considered applying for the FBI or CIA as they'll clearly recruit anyone. The final twist is just pathetic. A final attempt to try and surprise us, but instead it just confuses. It was needless and forced, and the ending had no real resolution especially in terms of morality.
Review of The Double
