 |
|||
 |
 |
||
 | |||
 | |||||||||||
|
|
Starring Michael Keaton, et al. ![[Photo]](/photos/multiplicity1.jpg) During the late '70's and early '80's, Harold Ramis was one of the most prolific and well-respected comedy writers and directors in Hollywood. Turning out hits like Meatballs, Ghostbusters, Back to School and National Lampoon's Animal House it seemed Ramis could do no wrong. As the '80's came to an end though, the box office success Ramis had earlier in his career faded. Ramis had always included certain elements of melodrama in his movies, but, as the '80's gave way to the '90's, Ramis seemed to focus more on the feel-good nature associated with one character's realization that doing the right thing is the right thing than on creating comical characters or humorous situations; quite simply, his writing began to stagnate. Revitalized by the success of Groundhog Day, Ramis, attacked another clever idea-that of being cloned-but with Multiplicity, he unfortunately fell back onto what came easiest: syrupy scenes that would feel out of place on Full House. Michael Keaton stars in Multiplicity as Doug Kinney, your average working Joe. As the film opens, we are introduced to Doug, who is becoming increasingly frustrated with the time constraints placed on his life by his boss, his wife, Laura (Andie MacDowell) and his kids. Instead of being able to spend a nice relaxing weekend on the links with six friends named Budweiser, Doug finds himself working late, driving kids to and from sporting events and spending time with his wife; anything and everything but golf. After meeting the mysterious Dr. Leeds (Harris Yulin) and learning of a cloning procedure that Leeds has discovered, Doug, in a particular fit of desperation, allows himself to be duplicated. But, even with two Dougs running around, Doug #1 still doesn't have time for himself. So out comes another clone, clone #3. Then the clones get upset at their lack of time and out pops #4. And finally Doug #1 has time for golf... but everyone else in his life begins suffers. Keaton, playing four different roles, does an outstanding job of acting opposite himself (as seen to the left), but his performances are all but wasted as his fellow actors, especially in the form of MacDowell, do nothing to distinguish themselves from one another. In the end, Ramis seems to forget what a wonderfully clever premise-cloning-he had to originally work with and lets everyone down by having Doug learning his valuable lesson, doing the right thing and spending more time with his family. Of the two Harold Ramis 'touch above reality' comedies see Groundhog Day.
|
| |||||
![[Photo]](/photos/multiplicity2.jpg)
With writing credits going to an astonishing five different people, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Chris Miller, Mary Hale and Ramis himself, it's quite possible, and judging from the disjointed nature of the screenplay, actually quite likely, that each character had his own writer, with Ramis supplying the tune of 'family first' that predominates the material