Review of The Devil's Double (2011) by Lenny R — 09 Apr 2016

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the events, and Lee Tamahori doesn't exactly redeem himself - I've never liked his work - but Dominic Cooper is riveting in his dual role, making Uday utterly despicable and Latif thoroughly sympathetic with apparent ease. It's just a shame the special effects aren't better - a couple of times Cooper's head is clearly CG'd onto a double - but then, Tamahori never seems to care much if his effects are terrible, given the poor quality of the CGI in his other films. Ludivine Sagnier seems an odd choice for her role, though I suppose all that is really required of her is to be sexy, which she does without trying (though she's proven herself capable of considerably more). Philip Quast as Saddam? Didn't he use to be on Play School? Weird.

It's very violent in parts, darkly amusing in others, but pretty weak overall. It's Cooper's performance alone that kept me interested.