I debated putting (metaphorical) pen to paper for this one. Never before have I seen a theater film without an imdb page. This, of course, made me curious. How do you get distribution without an imdb page? When a guy contacts your theater on the phone and says, “play my movie,” isn’t the first action to say, “What’s your movie?” The best way to answer that question will continue to be imdb. So here’s my dilemma – Double Trouble wasn’t good, likeable or unique. And there’s no way you’ll ever see this film, even by accident, so here’s an essay for the sake of posterity. I could write anything I like this piece of art. I could say it was about an ice cream parlor. I could say it was about a minor league baseball team. I could say it was a porn film about the Olsen twins.
Double Trouble violates my prime directive of film – on the big screen, you must must MUST show something that you can’t see on TV. In trying to decide what TV to compare this to, my mind settled on that awful 3D episode of “Chuck.” But “Chuck” was better. There isn’t a single moment of Double, a Chinese buddy cop caper, that doesn’t scream, “AMATEUR!”
The movie stars Jaycee Chan, son of Jackie. Jaycee, like his father, can’t act. Unfortunately, unlike his father, his kung fu skills are fairly laughable, which almost makes up for the makes that his antics won’t make you laugh. Luckily, they’ve partnered him with a fellow (Yu Xia) who is even a worse actor and worse martial artist. You probably won’t notice if you’re too busy laughing at the pathetic choreography.
The film? A cop tourist from Beijing (Chan) teams up with a Taipei museum guard (Xia) – youknow what? Screw it. You’re not seeing it and this film sucked. I’m not talking about it anymore.
Rated? They wish, 89 Minutes
D: David Chang
W: It is impossible to believe this film was written by anyone
Genre: TV, bad TV
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Those for whom poor acting is not a deterrent.
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Jackie Chan and the other parents of the players.
