Double Trouble
2012; directed by David Chang

As of the writing of this review in December 2014, Jackie Chan's son, Jaycee, is facing serious drug charges in Mainland China, which may effectively kill his career if he is convicted. Which is a shame, since Jaycee has shown himself as a capable actor who may eventually be able to step away from his father's large cinematic shadow. But, like many young thespians, Jaycee has had his share of missteps, including 2012's limp action-comedy Double Trouble.

As per the always reliable *ahem* Wikipedia, Double Trouble only grossed about US$9000 in Hong Kong, and even less (US$4000) during its' limited American theatrical release. Those numbers would seem to tell the tale of a cinematic abomination on the scale of Jaycee's pop's release The Spy Next Door, which is honestly one of the worst movies I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through. Thankfully, Double Trouble isn't that bad -- it's just more of a matter of this movie being on the boring side.

To his credit, Jaycee is in many respects a better actor than his dad, but the scripts he works with often do not let him showcase that, as is again the case here. Jaycee does try and bring some energy to his role of Jay, a Taiwanese security guard who is framed for the theft of a painting, who ends up teaming up with a vacationing Mainland cop, Ocean (Xia Yu). But this movie's script is fraught with so many stereotypical Hollywood buddy flick tropes that even Jaycee's earnest performance ends up petering out, as well as you might expect when one has to deliver so many clunkers.

Action-wise, the output is okay. You can't really expect Jaycee to be on the same level as Jackie in this respect; Jackie being a product of natural freakishly over the top abilities, honed by training many would consider child abuse in today's world. Jaycee does seem to be trying very hard, but the obvious wirework and camera trickery clearly indicate that his talents lie more with acting and not fisticuffs. Let's just hope that he has the opportunity to keep honing these skills.

RATING: 4

Note: Double Trouble can be viewed for free via the Snag Films streaming service. The movie is uncut and in the original Mandarin language with English subtitles, but since Snag Films is ad-supported, there are a couple of commercials that play after about every ten minutes. The audio/video quality via the Snag Films website and iPhone app is fine, but the picture is very pixellated on the Playstation 3 app.