The Double
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: May 9, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianHenry BarnesSep 15, 2013
The Double isn't an original idea. It wasn't even in Dostoyevsky's time. But it's a great story. And Ayoade has produced a brilliant copy. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnSep 15, 2013
The story arrives at a satisfying emotional conclusion with wonderfully thoughtful ramifications. Read full review
91
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 15, 2013
Totally bonkers, hilarious and wickedly clever, The Double is special and singular filmmaking at its best. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirMay 10, 2014
As a pure head-trip visual and auditory experience it feels like one of the biggest discoveries, and biggest surprises, of 2014. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyMay 8, 2014
It is the interplay between Wasikowska and Eisenberg that gives "The Double" both its tension and its charm... Their struggle captivates, the resolution shocks, and you can't help but wonder what windmills Ayoade will tilt next. Read full review
85
NPRBob MondelloMay 9, 2014
This workplace-as-hellscape is not new territory, exactly — the story's based on Dostoevsky, plays like Kafka, and looks like an Orwellian nightmare. But who'd complain, since it lets Jesse Eisenberg offer what amounts to an acting master-class. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 6, 2014
The Double, with its inviting alienation, nails a curious mood that's been too long absent from contemporary film: the anxious admission that the world might be weighted against the plucky individual, and that prickling you feel just before such thoughts make a sweat break out. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid HughesMar 31, 2014
Given the obvious influences on The Double, it could have felt like a facsimile of other films. Instead, it has enough individuality, imagination and idiosyncratic invention to identify it as a true original. Read full review
78
Film.comCalum MarshJan 9, 2014
The Double taps into a deep reservoir of psychic turmoil even as it navigates the script’s abundant jokes, and the nightmare of the heart of the film is doubtless universal. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyJun 12, 2014
The film’s bleakness is almost satirical. It’s "Brazil" drained of the daydreams. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMay 23, 2014
Kafka-esque, Terry Gilliam-esque (Brazil), Charlie Kaufman-esque (remember Floor 71/2 in Being John Malkovich?), and David Lynch-ian, too, The Double plays like a nightmare that will leave you spooked, jittery, and confused. Well, that's how it plays for Simon, anyway. For everyone else, it should leave us simply amused. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMay 22, 2014
It's not clear that Ayoade has anything new to say about these time-worn themes, but he has fun creating the world of the film. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithMay 10, 2014
Based on a lesser-known Dostoyevsky work, Brit director Richard Ayoade’s breathtakingly realized oddity will appeal to fans of David Lynch and the comic surrealism of Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil.” Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMay 9, 2014
While the cinematography and production design give The Double a formidable if not particularly original look, what really sells the movie is its acting. Eisenberg is unshowily brilliant in his dual role. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 12, 2014
The heavily stylized film further demonstrates the actor's ability to create self-contained worlds behind the camera. Read full review
70
The DissolveNathan RabinMay 7, 2014
Beneath all The Double’s cynicism, misanthropy, intense stylization, and distance lies a core of genuine tragedy, and that’s what gives the film an emotional resonance beyond its aesthetic achievements. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergMay 7, 2014
Judicious editing helps to maintain the illusion of two actors, though the quick-speaking Wasikowska, as the twins’ flighty, mercurial object of desire, in some ways has the subtlest task—and often steals scenes from her co-star(s). Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyAdam MarkovitzMay 7, 2014
Director Richard Ayoade (Submarine) gets a huge impact from minimal expressionist sets, but the thin story — loosely based on Dostoyevsky’s 1846 novella — plays like a pale reflection of a more exciting tale. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 17, 2014
With an aptness that may even be intentional, The Double feels both over-familiar and oddly new. It’s safe to call it a Kafka-esque tale, even though the Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel from which the movie is adapted was written in 1846. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 15, 2014
The Double retains all of Dostoevsky’s central themes. Madness, alienation and the loss of identity swirl around the film’s edges like film-noir fog. At the same time, the filmmakers inject a much-needed dose of dark humor into the tale. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMay 6, 2014
Eisenberg, perfectly, pliably put upon, is the engine that drives this picture. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 8, 2014
It never quite rises to the full potential of its theme or fully inhabits its intricately imagined space. It’s cool but not haunting — a brainteaser rather than a mindblower. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 8, 2014
Mr. Ayoade's new film, adapted from Dostoyevsky's novella "The Double," is at least as startling as "Submarine" in its visual design, eerie environments and unusual premise. But it's lifeless, for the most part, a drama suffocated by its schematic style. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMay 8, 2014
The Double belongs to a very specific club. If you’re on its wavelength, it’s a dive into quirky, murky fun. But even if you are, this oddball offering is vague and slippery, a calmer brother to “Brazil” or Orson Welles’ Kafka tale “The Trial.” Read full review
60
Time Out LondonDave CalhounApr 1, 2014
Ayoade tips his hat to so many other filmmakers and writers that he leaves little room to consider anything other than what a good job he’s doing of distilling all his references into an effective Pinterest board of paranoia and alienation. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangSep 15, 2013
Undeniably impressive as a visual-psychological construct, The Double is ultimately a rigid, one-joke movie that feels hard pressed to sustain any sort of momentum over the course of its 92-minute running time. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 15, 2013
It's a bureaucratic noir nightmare that may put you more readily in mind of Kafka, albeit with a tone of tongue-in-cheek bleakness that's bracing and funny – at least at first. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid DenbyMay 26, 2014
The movie, bad as it is, will do as a demonstration of a talented man’s freedom to choose different ways of being himself. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMay 7, 2014
Another eccentric example of style over content, The Double stars creepy Jesse Eisenberg in two roles, when one is always more than enough. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 13, 2014
Whatever the film's interest may be in the marginalized, writer-director Richard Ayoade never alludes to what would even be worth fighting for in this nightmarish industrial landscape. Read full review
20
TheWrapDiane GarrettMay 11, 2014
Without a character to really care about, the movie just comes off as fraught and over-stylized. Read full review
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