DOUBLE TAKE

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.

— Mark Bazer