Mes doubles, ma femme et moi

Okay, so the premise is obviously before it's time, and there isn't too much to the plot. A guy clones himself a few times and problems/hilarity ensues. This movie could've easily gone to the b-movie shelf if not for Michael Keatons above average acting. Of course Andie MacDowell was good as his wife, but Michael Keaton steals the show. It's hard to get bored over the course of the movie because you keep wanting to see what Michael Keatons various personalities are going to do next. The effeminate Doug alone makes the movie worth a watch. My main issue is probably with the editing. I'm sure it's hard to edit one guy being multiple guys (especially in 1996) but a few of the panning shots were kinda choppy. Not a huge deal, but it does take you out of the moment for a second. This movie is probably a 7 out of 10, but giving it an 8 to make up for the undeserved 5.7. I'm pretty picky about my comedies, but this one raised itself above the pack. Consider other comedies from the same year: "Bio-Dome," "House Arrest," "Black Sheep, "Jingle All the Way," "Down Periscope." Out of all of them "Multiplicity" is the only one that I can recommend. If you like Michael Keaton, you can't miss this one. And if for some reason you don't, this movie might change your mind.

Though nowhere near as good as Groundhog Day (director Harold Ramis's previous movie) this is still a solid comedy with several big laughs. Though its situation of a man cloning himself in order to make his life more manageable would have been an interesting one to play with a serio-comic focus, Multiplicity - despite some token moralizing - is pretty much content to play its premise for wacky farce. As such, however, it does an expert job: the timing in the scenes is impeccable and the interplay between the main characters is sharp and memorable. This is especially amazing since the "main characters" here are almost exclusively played by Michael Keaton. His ability to not only delineate between the four versions of himself, but also to play each of these "selves" off convincingly against the others is nothing short of superb. In my mind, this represents a much more awesome achievement than does Eddie Murphy's similar multiple role-playing in The Nutty Professor - and here it's not just pointless showboating (there was no reason besides vanity that Murphy had to play every member of his family), but absolutely intrinsic to the movie's success. Essentially, the film rides on Keaton's ability to do precisely what he does as well as he does. Multiplicity represents his funniest film work in years, and perhaps his best ever.

A couple of scenes in particular stand out as howlingly funny set pieces - such as the one in the restaurant and the one where the clones are left alone with Keaton's wife, played by Andie McDowell. It's a shame her character wasn't at least a little bit more sketched in by the writers (compare this, for example, to her wonderfully three dimensional role in Groundhog Day) - it might have made the film a little fuller. In fact, none of the supporting characters are really given much to do here, making it solidly a one man show. But what a show! With Keaton truly hitting every comic grace note available, you don't really have much time to notice or care about the lack of secondary characters. I have seen this film four times and it has yet to lose one iota of its hilarity or charm. Hey, how much more can you demand from a comedy?

In the post-Matrix era, it's very easy to take the special effects for granted, but this movie is awesome and showcases the wonderful talent of Michael Keaton. He shows an EXTREME range, in that all the iterations of "Doug" are COMPLETELY different. They realistically seem like completely different people. Just watch the movie again and imagine a different actors face on each "Doug", which is not very hard because each one DOES have completely different expressions, mannerisms, etc. (i.e "Number 1"'s look of surprise when something unexpected happens is not the same as any of the others look of surprise) Summary: I believe most of the appeal of this movie is Michael Keaton's performance. You would expect that since he plays 4 characters, it would be kind of cheesy because they would be too similar and would just seem goofy. It's not. It's like 4 totally separate actors who happen to have Michael Keaton's face.

Doug Kinney never has enough time to do what he wants to do, his life is frantic and his family life is strained, then one day he gets the chance to have himself duplicated.

It would seem that a lot of complaints about this film are about it being a waste of a good premise, well for sure Multiplicity is far from being a comic masterpiece, but to say it doesn't deliver laughs set amongst its charming romantic heart, is a touch unfair I feel. What we get here is four Doug Kinney's, each one having their own driving personality to make it real easy for the audience to distinguish which is which. So, with Michael Keaton delivering four excellent performances as the Dougs, the comic relief flows pretty much all through the picture.

However, director Harold Ramis is guilty of staying safe with the material to hand because from the off the conclusion is never in doubt, the feel good factor is evident even as the Dougs are chaotically imploding. But is that really a reason to do the film down? Well no as far as I'm concerned, Multiplicity is a tidy fusion of sci-fi comedy and romance that isn't taking the science literally.

For Doug number 4 alone, with his skiing skills and pizza fetish, this film deserves 7/10, whilst Keaton deserves a far higher score indeed.

I think this was a good film with a good concept and adequate execution. Michael Keaton is a workaholic who doesn't have any time for his family, so he goes to a scientist who clones him so he can have the best of both worlds. Complications ensue, however, and Keaton finds that things are going as expected, so he proceeds to make more duplicates, which of course leads to further complications. I loved the part where the duplicates make one of themselves, whom the original Keaton refers to as "Rain Man." The bedroom, home, and work scenes are all hilarious, and the movie also has a good cast. If you want to see a good comedy, I recommend this one. You won't be disappointed.

** 1/2 out of ****