Multiplicity

with Michael Keaton, Andie MacDowell, Zach Duhame
Written by Chris Miller, Mary Hale, Lowell Ganz
Directed by Harold Ramis
(Columbia, 1996)
by Scott Hefflon

With cloning such a hot topic, even a skate-the-surface, no-brainer, sit-calm laughtrack waste of film like Multiplicity takes on, ahem, significance. While this doesn’t hold a child-proof candle to Mr. Mom or even Dream Team for belly laughs, Michael Keaton occasionally exhibits the manic energy, not to mention the facial expressions, that made him quite the comedian. And yeah, he does that “serious acting” thing too. When he finally does figure out what’s important to him (we waited the whole movie for this?), Keaton wraps our heart-strings around his little finger. Admittedly, he looks, acts, and speaks his four selves with dexterity, and the babbling retard role looks like it was fun to play. Like the Seven Dwarves, Keaton plays Stressed (the real guy), Serious (the workaholic), Sensitive (the family man), and Stupid (the genetic mistake), and plays them convincingly. While a PG-13 Hollyturd like this can’t delve into the philosophical implications of cloning, and of course, it never intended to, the mere hint of what it’d feel like to be one of the copies and not be allowed to sleep with the woman that, as far as you’re concerned, is your wife, is enough to keep the mental juices flowing. Not bad for a buck.