Double Take turned out how I thought it would've been from the trailer and TV spots- fair. It didn't become better than I thought, however it didn't lower my expectations either and I have to give it that. The problem is is that the film usually doesn't work and changes it's tune (ie plot) more frequently that Elvis Costello on SNL. At times the plot gets so confused you wonder how the people who thought this was just going to be a buddy movie with Orlando Jones and Eddie Griffin felt. The film does have it's moments and even has some laughs in it (my favorite gag is the running gag with the guy with the glass eye),but not enough to get it up. Griffin does good though. C+

Double Take starts in New York where big shot financial analyst Daryl Chase (Orlando Jones) discovers that a client of his firms called Mexican Cola have just deposited 106million dollars into their account, Daryl senses something is wrong with such a huge sum of money for such a small company & takes his suspicions to his boss Charles Allsworth (Edward Herrmann) who says he will look into it. Then Daryl & his wife Chloe (Garcelle Beauvais) are attacked & saved from being killed by CIA agent Timothy McReady (Gary Grubbs) who says he will protect them, then the next day Daryl finds his assistant dead & in a shoot-out with the killers two NYPD cops are shot & killed for which Daryl is blamed. Daryl has to get out of New York & get to Mexico where McReady & his men are so Daryl swaps identity with a loud mouthed street hustler named Freddy Tiffany (Eddie Griffin) who now must work together to stay alive...

Written & directed by George Gallo & based on the novel Across the Bridge by Graham Greene which had already been adapted into a feature film back in 1957 this buddy buddy comedy mismatched partner thriller didn't do anything for me but if you find the idea of two black dudes with opposing personalities arguing a lot funny then maybe Double Take is the film for you. What it boils down to is that I just found Double Take very unfunny, I could see what the script was trying to do & I can see where it was trying to be funny but I thought it pretty much sucked. For a start the Freddy Tiffany character is so annoying it's irritating, his loud mouthed outbursts, bizarre observations, silly clothes & the fact he turns out to be a top FBI agent is just ridiculous. Daryl Chase is more mild mannered & the whole mismatched partners who have to work together against some bad guy's has been done countless times before much more effectively than here, there's little to no believability to any of the character's & the silly slapstick comedy is not funny neither are cute little poodles that bite people. The thriller elements suck too, it's extremely predictable & the amount of pointless twist's it takes during the final twenty minutes is just unnecessary. At just over 80 odd minutes at least it's short & at least it moves along at a fair pace but I found it all very routine & very unfunny with little in the way of action or genuine laughs.

As I just said the action is pathetic, there are a couple of dull shoot-outs, a predictable stand-off & a car is blown up but little else. With a PG rating there's no real profanity or violence so it's pretty tame stuff as well. Reasonably well shot Double Take looks alright but there's not much energy here. The script tries to have a stab at racism & elitism, from being treated differently because your black & because you wear an expensive suit Double Take plays on it for both laughs & as social commentary but pretty much fails to make much of an impact with it's messages.

With a supposed budget of about $24,000,000 this was filmed in Los Angeles & New York, the one thing that could have saved this was a funny performance by the lead actor's but Orlando Jones seems bored while Eddie Griffin just seems like some buffoon who just happens to be a top FBI agent.

Double Take is an unfunny mismatched partner crime comedy thriller that is strictly routine in every sense, a conveyor belt of clichés & ideas thrown together with little in the way of style or originality or humour.

I caught this during a weekend afternoon on Comedy Central and was pleasantly surprised. I expected an insulting and stupid buddy movie, but found myself somewhat entertained. I guess that's the point, anyway - it's not high art; just an amusing, OK film that has a few good jokes and amiable enough performances.

Orlando Jones plays a Harvard-educated lawyer who becomes involved in a murder conspiracy. He decides to make a run for Mexico to meet the only person who believes him at a rendezvous point - but along the way runs into authorities and, in an effort to ditch them, switches identities with an apparently homeless druggie (played by Eddie Griffin).

The two men essentially play each other for the duration of the film - Griffin pretending to be a high-class black man and the educated black male stereotype pretending to be a loud-mouth black stereotype.

Is this movie racist? I wouldn't say that. But it does rely on many stereotypes. Nevertheless, it comes across as passable due to the amusing performances and pace of the movie.

It's nothing great, but it helped me pass the time on a dreary afternoon.