Dir. Denis Villeneuve | Now Streaming On: Hulu | Rating: 1/5

Do you like Jake Gyllenhaal? Then you will love Enemy – because this is 90 minutes of soft porn and Jake Gyllenhaal talking to himself. 

This is described as a surrealist film, which means it uses abstract and outlandish, often Freudian imagery, to tell a story. Surrealism is lofty and high brow in a way that often evades most general audiences. I’m definitely one of those audiences, because this was a boring slog to get through. 

Gyllenhaal is supposed to be playing two different characters who are dopplegangers, but the personalities weren’t distinct enough to tell the difference between them at times. This means you’re basically watching one guy talk in a circle – with himself. This film doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test and the women in this film are portrayed as one dimensional, dumb, and entirely as plot devices. 

To call this “Kafka-esque” is laughable. Just because something features a giant bug, doesn’t mean it’s anything like The Metamorphosis, especially when it comes to storytelling prowess or relatability. Yes, Enemy features a giant spider. The CGI is impressive, but this spider has very little importance in the story, other than to be a symbol. A symbol of what? Your guess is as good as mine. 

In some way, this attempts to comment on the cyclical patterns of identity and the idea that maybe our personalities are predestined. We aren’t even our own people, we are just merely reacting to the motions of reality. Or something like that. 

No scares, no plot, no answers. Skip this. 

Know Before You Watch: Features nudity, sex, sexual assault, spiders.