Faux frères, vrais jumeaux

Directed by Andrew Davis, starring Andy Garcia and Alan Arkin. Awful.... Two Garcias - he stars as identical twins, one good, the other mean - battle it out over their guardian's will in Davis's witless follow-up to The Fugitive. Although it's supposed to be a comedy with a moral message, this actually has no redeeming features whatsoever. From the lack of decent jokes to Garcia's squabbling siblings, it's a film that will have you looking at your watch more often than you look at the screen. When the supporting cast of livestock out-act everybody and everything else, you know you're in trouble.

This is a better than average film. i am not an Andy Garcia fan, but I must admit he was charming and likable in this movie. I was a little confused that illegal aliens were presented in such a positive light. I found this a bit unbelievable, but I guess it had to be done for the story to work the way the director wanted it to. Still, as long as you throw believability out the door (as you have to do with most Hollywood movies anyway) it's not a bad way to spend a few hours. I don't understand why I have to make my review ten lines before it can be published. Maybe IMDb could e-mail me a reason for this. I've read several reviews much shorter than mine. How are they being published?

I woke up in my hotel room and this was playing on HBO. I knew it was an over-the-top farce, but I had to watch. The characters were great, the narrative had a magical component which you can struggle against or ride along with. I found the ride worth the suspension of disbelief. How else can you do a prince/pauper tale against a backdrop of Southern California real estate, Chicago gangsters and immigrant farm laborers?

The plot twists were many, but not hard to follow. One recurring theme was that those who would rule by money become ruled by it; those who are ruled by the heart find the resources that they need. Is it a fairytale? Sure! What's wrong with fairy tales?

It was a charming film and one I will recommend.

Andy Garcia is the most underrated actor there is. This movie has the best storyline that keeps you watching to see what happens next. Very good movie.

(This is an edited/revised post):

This film deeply affected me in two ways, which I will present in reverse chronological order:

2) The movie was shot largely on location, in and around my hometown of Santa Barbara. When I saw it in 1996, I was nine years removed from home and doing radio in Missouri. It was good to see home again.

1) However, I had the opportunity to go home in early 1995 when this was being shot. To his security team's utter horror, I attempted to park near the SB County Courthouse, somewhere dangerously close to (read: half a block away from) Andy Garcia's trailer. After several contentious profanities were hurled at me I moved the car, during which time I uttered a wish out loud that the film would turn out to be an utterly unwatchable piece of crap, and would completely tank at the box office.

Moral of the story? Don't go on location and then let your people treat a local like something stuck to your shoe -- he just might have unknown powers in putting curses.

To the film's credit, they did have the good taste to shoot at Papagallo's on De La Guerra Plaza (try the ceviche), and it also showed the annual Summer Solstice Parade in a pretty good light.

EDIT: Since I wrote most of the above, I've had occasion to revisit this movie (there was nothing better on HBO that night), and I've reluctantly come to the conclusion it really is funny. Mostly due to the performances of Alan Arkin and Joe ("Joey Pants") Pantoliano.

Okay, so I ran afoul of Andy Garcia's people during the shoot and they honked me off. And then my first viewing of the film left me cold. I've since warmed up to it (and removed my negative comments in this edit). Take that for what it's worth -- and I hope it's worth something, because I'm not a big fan of eating crow in public.