Name: Retro Film Review: Multiplicity (1996)
Item: Multiplicity
Rating: 15
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

Making a great film can often turn into disadvantage for film makers, because the bar of expectations is raised for next films and when those expectations aren't met, disappointment can be devastating. Something like that happened with Harold Ramis after Groundhog Day, a "high concept" fantasy comedy that had turned out to be one of the best titles of 1990s. Three years later Ramis tried to repeat the magic with Multiplicity, another "high concept" comedy, but the results were quite disappointing.

Protagonist of the film is Doug Kinney (played by Michael Keaton), Los Angeles construction manager who is becoming acutely aware of his inability to reconcile increasing work schedule with the need to spend some time with his wife Laura (played by Andie MacDowell) and two children. By happy coincidence the job brings him to Gemini Institute where Dr. Leeds (played by Haris Yulin) works on cloning. Dr. Leeds offers simple solution to Doug's problems - he would clone him and thus allow his alternative self (Doug #2) to work while he spends time with family. The arrangement works and his wife suspects nothing, but Doug soon discovers that family life alone can also be burdened with tight schedules. So he gets cloned again in order to have some time for himself while Doug #3 takes care of home. Unfortunately, Doug #2 and Doug #3 soon develop different personalities, leading to all kinds of conflicts in the house, and things get even more complicated when clones clone themselves only to realise that Doug #4 isn't particularly bright fellow.

Just like the protagonist of the film, viewers would discover that quantity doesn't necessarily leads to quality. On paper it looks wonderful - Michael Keaton playing different versions of the same character while trying to keep the secret from his wife. All that could have worked very well and provide material for plenty of humour. Unfortunately, it seems that the presence of four different screenwriters somehow drained all traces of creativity from the script. Instead of exploring ethical, emotional and sociological impact of cloning and using various Jekyll-Hyde scenarios and giving it humorous spin, Multiplicity adopts the approach of least possible resistance, desperately trying not to offend someone's sentiment or eventually miss some of the cliches. With actor of Keaton's talent in the main roles and few jokes that actually work Multiplicity could have been at least watchable. Unfortunately, it is the very presence of three clones that makes this film at least half hour longer than it is tolerable. Because of that, all those who watch Multiplicity would feel just like protagonist of Groundhog Day felt after realising that he would have to live the same day all over again. RATING: 2/10 (-)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on June 24th 2003)