lol Eisenberg has ZERO range!

While I agree that Eisenberg has a limited range I can't say I completely agree with your assessment that the evil twin was "mostly every bit as awkward and loathsome as the main character". The former was a confident, manipulative *beep* The latter only became manipulative in the end.

The great thing about Eisenberg is that he picks projects that suit his limited range extremely well. He'd better, because unless his range changes his age may limit how far he can take the awkward, Aspergery guy thing. Of course, Woody Allen made his shtick work for 45+ years, and John Wayne for nearly as long, so who knows.

While there were similarities in production design to Brazil (didn't see the Fight Club connection at all) I thought Double was different enough to be it's own and did a fine job in creating its own world. It was one of the things I enjoyed most about it.

I thout danny devito did bloody good in twins

One of the reasons he is loved is his work....of course *we* know his work is simply that of the lesser-confident personality presented in a confident way. So it is actually a confident, brash version of the protagonist that they love, but in his mind his work is being stolen and he is being denied true credit. That is what enrages him, but he is really enraged at his hidden self.

So hardly a filmmaking fail.

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It seems to work well for him though...

Agree about Eisenberg. Don't think he's a good enough actor for this role.

Brilliant film and Eisenberg was perfect in his dual roles. Ayoade created a film with a complex variety of tones - sorry if it went over your head, but that has to happen or else everything will be formula and there won't be much in the way of taking chances, from anyone. How many times do we have to hear the dumb Fight Club or Brazil standard of comparison (every other film seems to be likened to Fight Club). Come on folks, get a few more arrows in your quivers, there is so much more going on in The Double than any immediate, superficial association that pops up in your brain - dig down a little, there's a lot more.

Completely disagree. Eisenberg was great in his dual roles. And the movie absolutely does show why the "evil" twin is loved--he is charming and ultra-confident, the sort of guy who projects a feeling of having the world figured out. Did you miss the scene where he is telling Melanie about how data entry is such a romantic notion, the numbers and facts all correlating to people in the real world with dreams and hopes and lives? The way he is such a cocky go-getter around their boss? The joke he was telling in the first scene where Simon confronts him, when the entire office staff is hanging on his every word? To say the film doesn't show why this character is beloved and adored implies much more about your lack of observational prowess than it does about the filmmakers' abilities.

It is true that Hannah is perhaps a tad underdeveloped as a character, but again, you are underselling the film by calling her an empty shell. We learn a lot about her character throughout the movie--her creativity, her loneliness, her refusal to be seen as an object to be gazed at rather than a three-dimensional person. She does come across as a bit shallow and empty-headed by falling for James's manipulative charm, but then we learn that it was Simon's words that struck a chord with her and won her over, even if it took James to say them. I actually found myself sympathizing with her more as the film went on, even as her behavior toward Simon grew more disgusted. It wasn't her fault he acted like a weirdo creep. I'd react the same way if somebody stared at me through a telescope, went through my garbage, and hid around corners to watch me leave work.

And you do realize that Fight Club and Brazil were not the first films to explore those particular themes, yes? They won't be the last. The cinematography was Fincher-inspired to be sure but I thought the director used the color palette, composition, and camera movements inventively enough to make them his own. Every action/thriller/gritty drama/mystery these days looks like a lazy copy of Zodiac, almost as though the visual language of the film in question was an afterthought rather than a crucial element of its expression(Limitless is a quintessential example of this), but in The Double these aspects were used deliberately and with purpose. It wasn't just an attempt to cash in on a trend by a hack who had no other ideas.