Inspired by the Dostoyevsky novella of the same title, Ayoade’s noir-inflected sophomore feature gives a dead game Jesse Eisenberg not one but two juicy parts as both a mousy, long-overlooked office drone, Simon James, and his new colleague, the cocksure and charismatic James Simon. The bleakly comic story of a man struggling to get the upper hand over himself, with Eisenberg, in his virtuoso double role, getting more than capable backup from a supporting cast that includes Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn, and Cathy Moriarty.
