An effects-based comedy whose seamlessness is a sign that this newfangled comedic genre has gone beyond the adolescence stage and taken on a new maturity.
Multiplicity (1996)
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Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:19
Rotten:23
Average Rating:5.5/10
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: In this highly imaginative comedy, Michael Keaton stars as Doug Kinney, an overworked family man who is in desperate need of a vacation. When pressures mount at a job site, he is noticed by a... In this highly imaginative comedy, Michael Keaton stars as Doug Kinney, an overworked family man who is in desperate need of a vacation. When pressures mount at a job site, he is noticed by a slightly deranged scientist who offers him an intriguing solution to his problems: cloning. Doug agrees and finds himself with an exact replica to do all of his dirty work at the office. But there's just one problem: There's no one to help out at home, which leads to the arrival of Doug number three, a domestic whirlwind who can solve any household problem. But things are not as simple as they seem, and the clones soon begin to act out the extremes in the original Doug's personality. Clone number one becomes a macho workaholic, while clone number two becomes downright feminine. Real trouble ensues when a third clone is created by the duplicates, who is a copy of a copy, having lost some of his smarts in the duplication. Andie MacDowell stars as Doug's wife, who is suddenly faced with her husband's seemingly erratic behavior, while the original Doug scrambles to hide the truth about his little experiment from his wife, friends, and coworkers. Ironically, Doug's life becomes more complicated than ever, proving that four Dougs aren't necessarily better than one. Director Harold Ramis handles all the fun with the multiple Dougs hysterically, and Michael Keaton gives a terrific performance as a man just trying to cope with today's myriad problems. [More]
Starring: Michael Keaton, Andie MacDowell, Harris Yulin, Eugene Levy
Starring: Michael Keaton, Andie MacDowell, Harris Yulin, Eugene Levy, Richard Masur, Ann Cusack, Brian Doyle Murray, Zack Duhame, Katie Schlossberg
Director: Harold Ramis
Director: Harold Ramis
Screenwriter: Chris Miller III, Mary Hale, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Producer: Trevor Albert, Harold Ramis
Composer: George Fenton
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Reviews for Multiplicity
Although Multiplicity is funny, it's not as heartwarming or inventive as Groundhog Day.
Multiplicity ignores just about every question that would naturally come to the movie-goer's mind.
Groundhog Day had a certain sweetness and even a sly philosophical depth, but Multiplicity is more of a ground-level comedy, in which we can usually anticipate the problems for Doug and his clones.
If ever there was a movie that showed off an actor's versatility, this is it.
True to its title, Multiplicity keeps multiplying the fun and compounding the pandemonium.
A showcase tailor-made for Keaton and his maniacally comedic persona(e).
Whatever you know about cloning, leave at the theater door. Whatever you know about the modern housewife, shuck that, too. The feminism of “Multiplicity” is barely circa 1959.
Multiplicity exists because it's now possible for an actor to appear on screen with himself and not by means of anything so quaint as double exposure.
Director Harold Ramis had more serious ambitions. Multiplicity should have been another Groundhog Day, which Ramis also directed, but he comes up short.
Ramis and his quartet of writers, including City Slickers shtick factories of Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, can't find much to do with their simple premise.
Simply a laugh-out-loud comedy about clones running around, and the mayhem which ensues.
Multiplicity, while far from a great comedy, did provide this critic with a lot of laughs and made for a thoroughly enjoyable time at the movies.
It could have been a good story, but it turns out to be thin, despite good acting performances by Keaton and MacDowell.
Keaton does a dandy job by his four Dougs, but the problem is a script that assumes a physical comedian can do it all, including twisting characters to make them fit the plot line. It doesn't work.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
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| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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