Double Dare

Don't let the current score on this wonderful documentary scare you off. As the last commenter said I think someone who was a bit vindictive must have run amok. Read the positive comments posted here and see that everyone who has seen this movie loved it. Double Dare is a great film that focuses on two women, one on her way up, Zoe Bell, and one refusing to go down, Jeannie Epper. Die hard Xena fans will know Zoe from her stunt work AS Xena the Warrior Princess. One of my favorite lines in the film is when Zoe calls Lucy Lawless her Acting Double. And comic fans and children of the 70's might not remember her but Jeannie Epper definitely made an impression on them as she kicked but for Linda Carter as Wonder Woman.

You will fall in love with both these women as they share their struggles, their ups, and their downs. You will see Zoe come to grips with leaving her family behind as Xena ends and she looks to continue her career in Hollywood. While Jeannie struggles to keep working, anyway she can.

In a profession where respect for women is so hard to come by you will see how they earn it and fight to keep it. If you are a fan of film making, a fan of the human spirit, or just a fan of women who kick ass, then this is a film that you will not want to miss.

DOUBLE DARE chronicles the ultimately intersecting lives of two stunt women, a graceful, aging veteran and an ingénue-like up and comer. Somehow, in a reasonable chunk of time, the filmmaker tackles the unveiling of two distinct personalities and histories. She then recontextualizes them within the two distinct eras that produced them.

The older one faced challenges as a woman in a male dominated field that the younger one will probably never encounter. Yet neither the characters nor the filmmaker take the "Look at the injustice" route on this issue. The piece ends up being a solid character study with the gender politics circling cheerfully on the perimeter. The characters are aggressively likeable, and the filmmaker reveals a world that audiences rarely if ever get to see. Documentary is 90% editing, and lucky for us, because the editing is phenomenal. I can't wait to see what this filmmaker chooses to tackle next. Excellent work.

My wife and I checked out the premiere at the Castro in SF. It was packed, and the audience had great energy, along with the film. The story is really interesting, more than I would have thought - and the way it becomes intertwined makes it even more interesting.

The storyline of the two stunt women in Double Dare was compelling and fun. It was well paced: up, down, sideways and all with outrageous stunts going on as a side dish. The main course here is seeing two people trying to break in, and stay in this brutal business.

I saw this film when it appeared in Chicago and found it entertaining, amusing, and totally real. These are real women, and the courage and talent of these women who perform potentially dangerous stunts is awe inspiring. This movie truly captures the athleticism and skill required to work as a stunt woman. Jean Epper and Zoe Bell are excellent subjects as one is enthusiastically entering the tough world of Hollywood stunt women as the other, a veteran, teaches her the "tricks of the trade". The audience was also taken by the story and its highly entertaining subject. I will never view an action flick again without thinking of these tremendously talented women who fearlessly make an action film what it is. Wonderwomanly wonderful.