Since everyone (read "Koga and Steven") are upset about the end of Terrible Fridays, I felt inspired to do something movie-themed for Friday; so I figured why not do a review of a totally random movie? So I looked at my collection of DVDs and for some reason was drawn to two Michael Keaton movies: Multiplicity and The Paper. Now, The Paper is the better of the two movies, in my opinion, but I'm going with Multiplicity for this random review nonetheless. In addition to Keaton, Multiplicity stars Andie MacDowell, Richard Masur and Eugene Levy, and is the story of a contractor who is married with two kids and who discovers a doctor who will clone himself so that he can help give himself a hand with all the duties a contractor with a wife and kids evidently has. Naturally once he has cloned himself (not once, not twice but three times) this causes problems, and that is where the hilarity ensues. For me I've always kind of seen Multiplicity as the younger, forgotten sibling of Groundhog Day, probably because it's another comedy that features the same director (Harold Ramis) and same female lead (MacDowell). Also, much like Groundhog Day, the main appeal of the movie is the comedic value of it's main actor (Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, Michael Keaton in Multiplicity). I may be the only person out there who thinks of these two movies in the same way, however, so if you're a fan of Groundhog Day that doesn't necessarily mean you'll like Multiplicity. Maybe I'm just crazy or have bad taste (you can probably drop the 'maybe' from that last sentence). Nonetheless, Multiplicity cracks me up every time I see it. I think Michael Keaton is at his best playing a guy who is just in over his head (his character in The Paper has that same problem, by the way). In Multiplicity Keaton gets to play 4 totally different and distinct personalities and all of them are very funny, both individually and when they are interacting with each other. The first personality he plays is just his normal self, or as we see later is somewhat a combination of the other personalities but more "middle-of-the-road" in comparison to the other three. The second personality is a real macho version of himself, which loves working construction, drinking beer, making a mess and talking tough. The third version of himself is like a male version of Martha Stewart: fastidious and anal while being a whiz in the kitchen and also is a guy who is "very in touch with his emotions". The fourth version of himself is basically like what maybe a 3 or 4 year old version of himself might be: no manners, no common sense, no social skills and a huge apetite for junk food and screwing around. Unlike Groundhog Day, Multiplicity doesn't really have that "feel-good" type ending, and is really just much more of a straight comedy (well it does have some of that, but it's not the focus at all, and really comes across more as background filler), but it's really not bad for what it is.
Some interesting things to point out:
- This movie re-united Keaton and Glenn Shadix, who were in Beetlejuice together (Shadix played 'Otho' the medium in that)
- The guy who played 'Q' on all the various Star Trek shows and movies, John de Lancie, plays the closest thing to a bad guy that this movie has
- In another Groundhog Day tie-in, Bill Murray's brother, Brian, starred in both Groundhog Day and Multiplicity
- As Jon loves to point out, the construction site they are at when Eugene Levy's character gets fired in the movie is called "Vista de Nada" which means "View of Nothing" in Spanish
So there you go, that's my half-assed review/ramble about a random movie. I haven't seen Multiplicity in a while, but I'll wrap up this entry with my favorite quote from the movie: "My life's a shambles. I need pie." :lol