Between Robert De Niro in The Alto Knights, Theo James in The Monkey, Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17, and Michael B. Jordan in the upcoming Sinners, audiences are seeing a lot of dual performances on the big screen in the first half of 2025. De Niro’s turn will not be remembered as a highlight of the trend.

Inside you there are two mobsters, and Robert De Niro plays both. There's a scene near the limp climax of Barry Levinson's utterly somnambulant The Alto Knights in which Vito Genovese (De Niro) argues violently with his meathead driver and muscle Vincent Gigante (Cosmo Jarvis) about whether or not Palmyra,