Gere'd up: 'The Double' could use twice the plot

It takes The Double less than half an hour to reveal who the double is. That's if you're lucky enough to avoid the movie's trailer, which just comes right out and tells you. At that point, Peggy Lee lyrics went humming through my mind ("Is that all there is?") and, veteran thriller fan that I am, I began to suspect the movie had more than one double. That would be so incredible and absurd that I thought it was possible. Here is a movie constructed from basic parts at the Used Screenplay Store, with a character plugged in whenever one is required.

Still, it was a pleasure to see Richard Gere in the lead. He's an actor who has been improbably attractive all of his career and now, at 62, has only improved with age. I like the subtle, catlike body language he uses, such as moving for a millisecond, pausing, then moving definitively. Or the pause in a head movement, as if we're being told: "Thinking ... deciding ... acting." He never just flat does something. It's a form of dancing. He is permanently on pose. Full review.