DOUBLE TAKE
Mark Bazer
In the FBI, a double take is when an agent takes a second look at a crime and
comes up with a completely different conclusion. Perhaps if I see Double Take
again, I'll campaign for it to get an Oscar. The film, based very loosely on a
Graham Greene novella, stars gangsta-rap-inspired stand-up comic Eddie Griffin.
Here he plays Freddy Tiffany, who's either a smooth-talking criminal or a
slightly insane FBI agent -- we don't find out until the final minutes of this
unfunny and unsuspenseful action comedy. Neither does Daryl Chase (Orlando
Jones), a wealthy banker with a model for a girlfriend. One of the two things
Daryl and Freddie have in common is the color of their skin, and from this much
of the attempted humor is milked: Daryl is defensive about his street cred,
Freddie insecurely mocks Daryl's Harvard education. The other thing is that
they're both caught up in a vague drug-smuggling scheme. But, Traffic this film
is not. The plot is a mess, with good guys and bad swapping sides more often
than children in a game of Red Rover. And though Freddie's real identity is in
question throughout, the actor is always Eddie Griffin. He huffs, and he puffs,
he jumps all around, he cackles constantly, and he sucks any trace of energy
out of the film.
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