The Tiger's Tale

Jun 8 2007 By The Journal

Plot: Successful businessman Liam O'Leary (Brendan Gleeson) runs a property development company at the beating heart of Dublin's regeneration.

He has a spirited wife, Jane (Kim Cattrall), and a rebellious 16-year-old son, Connor, who devours books on Lenin and lambasts the world of profit inhabited by his father.

In the midst of negotiations to build a new national stadium, Liam is dumbfounded when he comes face to face with his exact double.

At first, he thinks he is going insane, relying on the counsel of good friend Father Andy (Ciaran Hinds) and sister Oona to prevent a slide into madness.

But as the doppelganger gradually takes over Liam's life, even infiltrating the O'Leary family home, the businessman teeters on the brink of complete mental breakdown.

Verdict: Unfolding like a twisted modern version of The Prince And The Pauper, the film stretches credibility to breaking point to engineer Liam's descent from corporate high-flyer to medicated lunatic.

Gleeson plays the dual roles with subtle nuances so we can always tell the two characters apart, relishing the contrasts between the twins.

Most of the twists are played for laughs, and scenes between Jane and the two men transform a sympathetic neglected wife into an ice queen.

The script makes a half-hearted attempt to address the issue of the widening social divide in modern Ireland, the chasm between the haves (Liam and family) and have-nots (the youngsters in Father Andy's care).

However, any anger that John Boorman harbours towards the political establishment is dampened by the soapy revelations of the final 20 minutes.