Double Trouble

• Directed by John Paragon
• February 14, 1992

Twins on different sides of the law try to smash a jewel smuggling ring.

Double Trouble was a movie I came across courtesy of social media. I was alive and quite into this sort of bad action film when it first came out but it totally slipped past my radar until now. I may have seen-and I cannot stress that enough-their movie The Barbarians sitting on my local video store for rent but never picked it up. Yet once I knew this existed it became a must see. It did not disappoint.

Starring B-movie icons the Barbarian Brothers Peter and David Paul as, and this is a stretch, burglar Peter and cop David Jade respectively. Both in the physiques here put Schwarzenegger in his prime to shame making Peter being a stealthy cat burglar a little questionable. Kudos to costuming for mostly dressing the duo in distinct outfits for the whole movie.

They play up the mismatched brother aspect for the dysfunctional functional duo buddy movie plot that this is. Most of this once plentiful type were never Oscar worthy but they were very entertaining. You didn’t generally regret watching them, but you might feel a little guilty watching one. The Barbarian Brothers clearly were never great actors but have a certain charm that lends itself to something this cheesy.

This is a testosterone fueled movie. It’s very much aimed at the male demographic. From the humor to the scenarios to just about everything. This was meant for guys or a young man who loved the action movies of the time where the heroes were practically superhuman.

Present is everything you would expect in one of those movies. The ridiculously beat up police car that the officer must drive around. The uptight partner who is supposed to be a douche or just a pill. The twins mock him but Officer Whitney (Collin Bernsen) is a likeablely nice character that gets an awful lot of abuse from the cast.

The number familiar faces in this is rather astounding. You can’t go two minutes without seeing somebody recognizable. I’m talking not just talking about Roddy McDowall. There is Tim Stack, Troy Donahue, James Doohan, Bill Mumy, David Carradine and Lewis Arquette appearing in various parts.

All the familiar faces but McDowall get dumped from the film well before the midpoint. Even Peter’s girlfriend featured in the opening is gone from the movie if not completely forgotten about. I honestly don’t know what happened to her after she was introduced. It’s like everyone forgot she existed. I am assuming they shared Peter’s apartment which was ransacked by Chamberlain’s goons but there is no mention of her. Then again I do not think she is even named on screen.

Roddy McDowall was among my favorite actors. He could be sinister or charming or whatever was needed for the part. Here he’s Philip Chamberlain who is the head of some vaguely defined criminal organization and easily outshines everybody in the movie yet conversely allows the actors to appear better. He knew how to compliment a fellow performer to elevate the work of all.

McDowall is so very good in the part of Chamberlain. He understood the assignment and makes the villain having fun doing evil things. It turns the character kind of likable as the better story threats are. Chamberlain dispatches people rather casually when they fail him such as firing two heads of security by shooting them because they messed up. 

This is all centered around a very brazen jewel heist that’s been years in the making by Chamberlain. He’s stated to have spent billions of dollars to get all these diamonds. I believe he uses of the B word which would mean there they would need to be worth a lot more. To their credit when we finally see the diamond haul looks like a lot. 

Being related the Barbarian Brothers have a nice banter. Not great actors, but they are able to play up their sibling bond in the movie which makes the general roughness of their performance go down smoothly. There are plenty of twin jokes and bad sibling humor. The movie is very much a buddy action movie but also has other jokes that are like something dreamt up by a comedy writer from the 50s meaning there are a few groaners in this.

The action is well staged but clearly limited by the budget. There were no huge explosions which is an indication of how cheap this was. Instead we get feats of superhuman strength and some rather menacing acting by McDowall capped off by the character of Peter returning to form.

It’s an entertaining throwback to the kind of movie they don’t make anymore. It’s fun and not meant to be taken too deeply. It’s male driven and just kind of silly. It has no great deep meaning and no message to get across other than maybe-and I mean maybe-love your siblings, even if they are terrible.

Double Trouble is fine. It’s by no means a classic, but it’s certainly a good Cult Classic. It’s bad in all the right ways because it doesn’t think it’s more than what it is. For a great throwback film this is well worth your time.