For those of us for whom Stearns long ago won over, Dual is a satisfying ride that – while wandering into generic territory that is relatively new for him – shares his fascination with ritual and themes of individuality, connection and disconnection.

| Aug 11, 2022

Gillan imbues the two Sarahs with subtle physical differences that are consistently surprising.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 20, 2022

It is very clever, interesting, and requires a real deep dive into one's own psychological dynamic.

| Apr 19, 2022

It’s a strange and memorable film with a unique voice and a unique perspective, and that alone makes it worth seeking out.

| Apr 15, 2022

The film insists on avoiding the deeper psychological and even existential implications of its own tale, implications present in the narrative but somehow skipped over or ignored.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 15, 2022

A glimpse inside a filmmaker’s idea lab is not necessarily the same thing as a film, which puts Riley Stearns’ low-key future satire “Dual” in a frustrating position when there’s so much going for it but so little that lands effectively.

| Apr 15, 2022

Stearns first two movies earned their adoration the hard way, challenging audiences with pitch-black humor and an off-kilter tone. While "Dual" goes for the jugular as well, it doesnt cut nearly as deep.

| Apr 14, 2022

“Dual” takes a worthy idea and throws a smoke bomb in its middle, leaving the audience to squint through the haze.

| Apr 14, 2022

Stearns’ film is less interested in examining the complexities of our duality than it is with displaying our societal follies with an irony and disaffection that is Stearns’ trademark.

| Apr 14, 2022

Riley Stearns’ genre mashup is an odd duck, an almost-there clone comedy/thriller that doesn’t hit the right tonal marks as consistently as it should.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 13, 2022

The movie’s shell-shocked vibe won’t suit all tastes, but Gillan commits to it with stylized performances that never feel forced or false.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 13, 2022

The supporting cast is all in tune with the film’s peculiar rhythms. But in her dual roles, Gillan makes the movie her own, playing a divided self with sly restraint.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 12, 2022

It’s a weird and hilarious little film that posits a scary thought: Some upgraded version of you, a better-looking and nicer and smarter version of yourself, might not be much happier than you are right now.

| Feb 3, 2022

There's a solid 45 minutes of great bone-dry social satire in the middle ... but a too-slow start and an anticlimactic ending muddle the effort a bit.

| Original Score: C+ | Jan 28, 2022

Gillan's dry double performance in the lead is most memorable, along with a hilariously mordant Aaron Paul as her combat trainer.

| Jan 28, 2022

Gillan is great in the dual -- no pun intended -- role, fierce and fearful at the same time.

| Jan 28, 2022

Potentially interesting ideas of waging a war with the self only ring hollow in a film that reads as intentionally, woefully vague.

| Jan 27, 2022

Dual is never boring, but it starts to feel hollow, an experiment that doesn't just eschew deeper meaning but pushes back against it.

| Jan 27, 2022

Riley Stearns's film consistently tickles the funny bone, even when it comes at the expense of psychological nuance.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 25, 2022

Stearns' third feature is his least satisfying so far; as visually drab as its predecessors, it has more difficulty mining its off-kilter aesthetic for nervous laughter and conceptual provocation.

| Jan 23, 2022