This is not the best comedy ever made, but in all fairness I have to say that I've sat through more than a few comedies and never even cracked a smile. This one on a handful of occasions actually had me laughing out loud, so for that reason alone I have to say it's pretty solid. Michael Keaton is what makes this work so well. It's not just because he's the star - it's that he stars in four roles. It's not a costume comedy, though, which makes his performance all the better. He essentially plays the same character with tweaks and variations to differentiate between them, and he pulls it off brilliantly. Each character is a character of his own, and even the interactions between the characters he plays are pulled off flawlessly so that everything is very natural.
The story is tailor made for a comedy revolving around mistaken identity. Keaton's basic character is Doug Kinney, an overworked contractor who's finding that he doesn't have time to keep everything in his life in balance. Hoping for a miracle to help keep his life together he finds himself doing some work for a geneticist who's discovered the secret of "cloning" humans. It's not scientific - the "clones" come out as exact physical replicas rather than as newborn babies with identical genetic material to the original - but this is a comedy, so who cares! It works! Starting with one clone (named, simply, "2") Doug finds that even one copy isn't enough, so he makes another (named, appropriately, "3.") 2 and 3 are completely different from Doug and polar opposites from each other. 2 is a macho, take charge type who happily takes over the contracting business but chafes about having to stay out of sight when he'd much rather be picking up women, while 3 is an effeminate, stay at home type who loves cooking and cleaning. Eventually, 2 and 3 find themselves over-burdened, and they create another clone (named - guess what - "4.") except that 4 is a copy of copy and so, therefore, imperfect, for lack of a better way to put it. Intended to make Doug's life easier, all these 3 clones do is introduce increasing chaos, and at times it is hilarious.
Really the only other cast member of note is Andie MacDowell (who teams again with director Harold Ramis as she did in "Groundhog Day") as Doug's increasingly confused wife Laura. Unfortunately, the movie revolves so completely around Doug and the clones that MacDowell, while she was good enough and as always quite lovely, seemed to fade into the background more often than not, so that her talents were generally underused. She's more impressive opposite Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day" than she is here, but that's more a result of the type of movie and the role that it asked of her rather than any deficiency in her performance.
This is almost two hours long - which might be a little bit too much for this type of silly comedy. It gets to that length perhaps by trying to introduce too much "drama" (if you will) in the last while about Doug and Laura's faltering marriage. Still, it's a funny movie, and Keaton's performance is worth watching. (7/10)
The story is tailor made for a comedy revolving around mistaken identity. Keaton's basic character is Doug Kinney, an overworked contractor who's finding that he doesn't have time to keep everything in his life in balance. Hoping for a miracle to help keep his life together he finds himself doing some work for a geneticist who's discovered the secret of "cloning" humans. It's not scientific - the "clones" come out as exact physical replicas rather than as newborn babies with identical genetic material to the original - but this is a comedy, so who cares! It works! Starting with one clone (named, simply, "2") Doug finds that even one copy isn't enough, so he makes another (named, appropriately, "3.") 2 and 3 are completely different from Doug and polar opposites from each other. 2 is a macho, take charge type who happily takes over the contracting business but chafes about having to stay out of sight when he'd much rather be picking up women, while 3 is an effeminate, stay at home type who loves cooking and cleaning. Eventually, 2 and 3 find themselves over-burdened, and they create another clone (named - guess what - "4.") except that 4 is a copy of copy and so, therefore, imperfect, for lack of a better way to put it. Intended to make Doug's life easier, all these 3 clones do is introduce increasing chaos, and at times it is hilarious.
Really the only other cast member of note is Andie MacDowell (who teams again with director Harold Ramis as she did in "Groundhog Day") as Doug's increasingly confused wife Laura. Unfortunately, the movie revolves so completely around Doug and the clones that MacDowell, while she was good enough and as always quite lovely, seemed to fade into the background more often than not, so that her talents were generally underused. She's more impressive opposite Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day" than she is here, but that's more a result of the type of movie and the role that it asked of her rather than any deficiency in her performance.
This is almost two hours long - which might be a little bit too much for this type of silly comedy. It gets to that length perhaps by trying to introduce too much "drama" (if you will) in the last while about Doug and Laura's faltering marriage. Still, it's a funny movie, and Keaton's performance is worth watching. (7/10)