theharve01 listen, to be honest i am actually writing this as i am watching the film. i only gave it a 5 out of ten because i am not finished watching it.i don't even know if i will finish it if Kim Cattrall keeps coming into screen. how could not one person tell her that she doesn't sound Irish. and if she is speaking with an Irish accent i would love to know what county she is supposed to be from. why the hell would you hire a muck actor from America to play a roll that even someone from fair city could have pulled off.i wish there was a way that i could actually ask Kim, what she was thinking when she was jabbering on in a funky accent.thats the worst thing about foreign actors, mainly American playing Irish and Brit's on screen, they cant do it. except John Voight in "The General", great job he done.any how, this isn't really a review more a rant, i just needed to share it.

David O'Brien John Boorman is a mystery to me. He is responsible for great Irish films such as 'The General', fabulous fantasy 'Excalibur', wartime drama 'Hope & Glory' and the masterpiece 'Deliverance'. And then there is this piece of junk....I cannot countenance how he came to produce this...Brendan Gleeson plays Liam O'Leary, a successful businessman. He starts seeing his double at various locations. He is unhappily married to Kim Cattrall and has a son who has Communist views. His son is played by his biological son Briain. Kim Cattrall's Irish accent wasn't too bad I suppose. It's a pity her wooden acting was the same as usual. On the evidence of Gleeson Jnr's acting here, he has a big career ahead of him...stacking shelves. To cut a long story short, the doppelganger succeeds in infiltrating his life and takes over from him, successfully convincing his wife and son that the real Liam is in fact a fake. There are a few ridiculous ideas in this film - Kim Cattrall can't tell her husband apart from his twin brother, her son cannot spot the difference either except that his father is 'acting strangely'. The last straw is when we are expected to accept that Sinead Cusask (age 60) is Brendan Gleeson's mother (age 52). At this point, I found the whole thing such a ridiculous film and so disrespectful of the viewer that I wanted to switch off. However, I endured to the end and it got no better. The main reason I watched it in the first place was because if was filmed in Ireland very close to where I work and I wanted to see those locations on screen. They looked very nice indeed - it's a pity that the dog of a script and the outrageous plot weren't up to scratch.

rgedgar This is the very first time I have made a comment on a movie. If this superb production had received the excellent reviews that it so richly deserves then I would not have bothered. I can not recall the last time I was so engrossed by a story so well told. Each of the characters become real people encouraged by by a script which appears so simple and natural but yet allows all the superb players to add depth, feeling and emotion to the flawed yet heroic individuals who inhabit this tale. After watching this I felt as if I had just finished reading a novel ( a medium which usually allows greater empathy with well drawn characters). I found that the 'crowd' scenes both extremely funny and yet deeply poignant. Each extra has an 'over the top' tom an jerry role to play yet each character is a parody of real people in real situations that are played out on the towns and cities of Ireland every night of the week. As W.B Yeats said 'A Terrible beauty is born'. As you may have guessed I am Irish .. I could recognise the character of Ireland in this drama. The strenghs, weaknesses and joy of our nation are evident in this production. I presume John Boreman is an American. I salute him for capturing the soul of our nation and not once mention little green men with a crock of gold. Well done.

patcal I have read some of the different opinions here and I concede that some of the points made could be relevant to this film. Most modern films do very little for me (I've been filmgoing since the 1950's) but I really enjoyed this film immensely with the possible exception of the way the "situation" was resolved in the end. However, most people could probably think of a hundred ways to end this one so I accept the one chosen. The acting was first class, Seamus Deasy's photography was spot on and Stephen McKeon's wonderful score raised it all a notch or two. What a refreshing break from the ear-bashing, grossly offensive noise that passes for film music these days. I give it 7 because, quite simply, I enjoyed it and that's what counts in the end, not who didn't speak very well, who was or wasn't liked in it and how bad Irish society is today.