Dead Ringers (1988)

Well, I just watched Dead Ringers...and just like every other Cronenberg movie I've ever seen, it's definitely "original" but that doesn't necessarily make it "good"...Crash had an intriguing, original premise, and look at the monotonous movie that turned out to be...Naked Lunch cheapened something meaningful into appearing "weird for the sake of being weird"...A History of Violence was praised for being "an art film masquarading as a thriller", a statement which seemed to be based purely on reputation, because it seemed to be a pure ol' thriller to mine eyes...an above-average thriller, but just a general thriller...Videodrome was the only one so far that I really "liked", and I certainly was miles from loving it, but it's the only one I would ever considering showing to anyone or watching again...

Anyway, on to Dead Ringers...it has an "original" premise (twin gynecologists trade off women and are for all intents & purposes, the same person)
...the fact that they're gynecologists seems to not be notable (there are definitely references to it, but it seems to almost be a throwaway (any other doctor would have sufficed...the fact that they deal with the vaginal cavity comes off to me sounding like Cronenberg trying to be "original" again (and the fact that it's based off of real people exhibits my point)), and in fact seems to have been added as an occupation strictly because it's an odd, almost-taboo occupation (once again being "weird for the sake of being weird"), and just like every other Cronenberg, it was an interesting idea that lost steam as it went on...

...although I will say, I enjoyed this one far more than I enjoyed either Crash or Naked Lunch, and about on pace with A History of Violence (actually, it's far deeper than that, and it's one of those films that is far more mind-enriching to consider afterwards than to actually watch)

Also, two amazing performances from Jeremy Irons, I was confused over who was who during most of the film, but that was due to deliberate writing choices attempting to confuse the two, as opposed to any fault of Irons' to distinguish the two...(and although I wasn't that in love with the film, the technique used to get both Irons' on screen at the same time was staggering...

if something had said he had a twin brother named Jerome, I would have emphatically believed it)

So, to sum up, like many of his films, it was okay (but, also like the rest of his films so far, amazingly forgettable...and any credit is mostly thanks to Irons)...I'll give it an 7/10 (just a notch below A History of Violence) and I'll put it at #13 in the unnaturally good year of 1988...