What makes it different from others?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

John Boorman has written & directed many fine films,This however is not one of his memorable ones.This being said, I must add that a second rate film by this master writer/ director is better than many if not most of the so called better dramas on the screen today.This is a family type drama about family relationships,& a secret from the past that has just come to light.This movie was made in & about Dublin, Ireland.The cast comprises some of the better actors in Irish cinema. Brendan Gleeson in a dual role is excellent. In worthy support areKim Cattrall,Ciarrin Hinds,Sinead Cusack & in his debut roleBriain Gleeson (he is Brendans real life son) as the son.The story is complicated,But I was able to follow it all the way.I wish they had a less contrived plot development towards the end.I usually enjoy father-son relationships,thusly I did like this.Ratings: *** (out of 4) 88 points (out of 100) IMDb 8 (out of 10)

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.

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.

This new film is very peculiar. PURPORTING to be about the Celtic Tiger and modern Ireland, it is curiously insipid. Despite setting out to be satirical, it falls flat. Hard to pin down exactly why, but probably due to laziness on the the filmmakers behalf. Why isn't he making satirical films about London? Brendan Gleeson is okay, but the two characters he plays stretch the imagination. Catrall isn't really credible as an Irish woman and some of her lines are hard to listen to. The camera-work is surprisingly dull, as some of his previous films have looked great, and doesn't make anyone look good. That said you should check it out, if only cos he is the same filmmaker who made Point Blank and Deliverance, and its a paradox to see how far off these classics he has drifted.