Doubletake movie movie#

(See 'The 39 Steps,' 'North By Northwest,' etc.) Or that 'The Net' echoes Alfred Hitchcock's films with its innocent-person-on-the-run suspense themes. Or that 'A Kid in King Arthur's Court' looks like 'Unidentified Flying Oddball' - especially since both of those Disney films are based on Mark Twain's 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.' (And if you want to go way back, there was a musical version of 'Connecticut Yankee' starring Bing Crosby in 1949, a straight comedy in 1931 with Will Rogers and a silent adaptation in 1921!)Īnd how many critics besides myself have commented on the similarities between 'Waterworld' and the 'Mad Max' movies? Or that 'Dangerous Minds,' despite being based on a true story, is a familiar tale that has been told many times before, from 'Blackboard Jungle' to 'Stand and Deliver' (though it most strongly resembles 'To Sir, With Love'). Or that 'Species' seems to steal from 'Alien' and 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers.' (Just kidding, I do see all of them - and it is too many.)Īnyway, the only defense I can offer for making these comparisons is that so many movies really do look like so many other movies.Īfter all, it's hard to ignore that 'Virtuosity' brings to mind 'Johnny Mnemonic.' After all, I review some 250 movies a year - and I do see most of them. 'Let's face it,' they will say, 'you just see too many movies.'And they're right, of course. Average Moviegoer because I tend to compare so many new movies to so many other movies.

Doubletake movie movie#

It’s as if composer Graeme Revell’s music achieved the promise of Double Take that the movie itself just couldn’t deliver. The soundtrack was outstanding - exciting, catchy, innovative. Giving more than her all - thanks to cartoon-sized breast implants - was cowboy-bar songbird Donna Eska, who deserves special mention as the funniest character in the movie. With all that said, Double Take is worth catching at the bargain matinee: There’s lots of action, the photography and set design are commendable, and you can’t fault the actors for the script flaws - they seemed to be giving their all. But the character played by Orlando Jones is so boring - he has no quirks, no secret passions, no nothing (except money) - it’s hard to believe anyone would ever bond with him, much less a smart guy like Eddie Griffin. We also know that friendships usually occur between interesting people. And a movie based on a false premise is going to fall apart when real people see it, because the audience doesn’t suffer the same myopia the filmmakers do. Friendship can’t happen if people are dishonest with one another. Eddie Griffin’s character, who wavers between idiotic jerk/street-smart angel/FBI agent, is not who he pretends to be. Double Take fails, not so much because it ended up being unfunny, but because it tries to pretend you can have a buddy movie with people who would in reality be incapable of achieving friendship.

Thus, expectations were high that, despite a decade-long hiatus, Gallo would repeat Midnight ‘s magic formula. George Gallo wrote one of the best “odd-couple” buddy movies ever - 1988’s Midnight Run with Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin. Contrary to what many critics are claiming, this is not the “worst movie of the year” (it’s only January after all), but it might be the most disappointing.

A twisting trail of double-cross and violence on both sides of the border - uplifted by philosophical repartee - leads the two guys to experience male bonding, as they change their hair styles and celebrate on the beach in Malibu. Sticking to him like Super Glue is Eddie Griffin ( Foolish ), a wise-ass Energizer gutter-bunny. Snooty Harvard grad Manhattan banker Orlando Jones ( Magnolia ) must flee the country to escape a Mexican drug lord’s vendetta. Double Take is a lot of things, but funny it is not. Seems they, too, had believed the trailers and assumed the movie was going to be a love-in of foolish fun. “Let’s go sit down front and make fools of ourselves!” a wannabe prankster shouted to his cohorts as they raced ahead of me into the theater for opening night of Double Take.