Multiplicity (1996)

Absolutely brilliant

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This quirky little gem was directed by Harold Ramis which, at the time, came across like a bright spark in an otherwise dull period. His last success had been the Bill Murray comedy 'Groundhog Day' back 1993, and since then offerings had been a bit limp ('Airheads, 1994). Then you also had the resurgence of Michael Keaton. Now up until this point Keaton had actually been doing very well since his last big outing as Batman in 1992. Films like 'The Paper' and 'My Life' had shown Keaton could be a very good serious actor, he didn't need the Bat to help him out it seemed. Nevertheless Keaton hadn't made a good comedy since 1989 in 'The Dream Team', so could he still deliver?Upon a first glance this looked like another weak comedy, even worse...a romantic comedy! I recall seeing trailers in cinema back in the day and completely brushing it aside as soppy trash. Yet the plot to this gooey nonsense is actually pretty solid. A busy construction worker is finding it hard to juggle his work with his personal life, he's suffering from stress and taking it out on the wrong people. On one of his jobs at a science facility Doug (Keaton) stumbles across Dr. Leeds (Harris Yulin)...and his clone. Yes this scientist has perfected the art of cloning humans it seems and offers Doug the chance to clone himself so he can sort his life out. The idea being there will be two Doug's, one for work and one for family. After a few hiccups everything goes swimmingly and before you know it, Doug gets another clone to help out around the house. Its obvious where this is headed, eventually one of the clones gets a clone and before you know it Doug's life is getting a bit hectic again. Can he now juggle his work, family and three clones?So as I said the idea behind this is actually really neat. It makes you think, wouldn't it be cool to have a clone of yourself that you could send to work so you could bum around. Indeed the movie actually doesn't offer up any negative aspects of this idea, it generally works out pretty well for the protagonist. You half expect one clone to turn out all psychotic or something and Doug needing to vaporise him or whatever. But no it doesn't go down that dramatic route, instead each clone takes on one of Doug's traits. One is more of a mans man, one has Doug's feminine side and one is like a young child...and a bit simple.This allows Keaton to showcase his comedic skills with different performances for each clone, and it works nicely. Clone one (Lance) is a great foil to Doug with his brash masculinity, lack of tact and slobby habits. Clone two (Rico) is very amusing with his soft over sensitive nature, complete knowledge in and around the kitchen and his sharp dress sense. Lastly clone three (Lenny) is the least funny to be honest as he merely does stupid slapstick type things and acts like a child. To be brutally honest I don't even think the movie needed this character, should have gone with a different trait if you ask me. If you removed clone three it wouldn't really make any difference.Looking back the special effects now are laughably poor I'm afraid, although not always. Seeing as there are four Keaton's you can imagine there's gonna be a lot of greenscreen and split-screen here. Again as you can imagine this being a 1996 flick most of these effects, now, do look ropy. There are some terribly obvious stark black lines around Keaton in some scenes with other clones, not only that but there is also really obvious light issues between the characters (presumably greenscreen effects). Not all look that bad, some scenes look quite good where shots have been digitally layered together or when Keaton has obviously interacted with a stand-in and then they replaced that with another Keaton character. All the clones in the car at the end, Doug pouring Lenny some Coke, all the clones on the couch in the living room, all great looking effects scenes.Obviously there are always gonna be questions and nitpicks because that's what I do. The house that Doug and his family live in is YUGE! I know this guy is a team leader in construction and I know Americans do live in big houses compared to us here in the UK, but Jesus! This place even has a second small house at the bottom of the garden! Is that an the American version of a shed or something?? Then you have Dr. Leeds and his cloning lab. How is this guy not world famous by now with his human cloning? Surely perfecting this kind of scientific breakthrough would be big news. Yes this movie is horribly dated now, which is really scary for me because as said I remember seeing the trailers in the cinema. Keaton is a great comedic lead but boy does he look out of date and so very 90's in this (no sh*t!). The way he dresses is sooo 90's its lovely, its like watching 'Friends' again. The overall comedy is very agreeable in general. At times wickedly good, at times hit and a miss, at times cringeworthy and over the top. Andie MacDowell plays Doug's wife which is one let down because she's so flippin' useless in my opinion, all teeth and nose. But I do love this movies premise, its clever and presents great opportunities for witty visual comedy (just like 'Groundhog Day'). In general this is a great little flick that suited Ramis to a tee. It offers some genuine laughs and a nice easy-going, laid-back experience. Comfy viewing.7/10

A man who never has enough time for the things he wants to do is offered the opportunity to have himself duplicated. Easily one of my favorite Michael Keaton movies or at least on the list with Batman, Batman Returns, Jack Frost, Spotlight and Birdman. The movie was directed by Harold Ramis and he did such an amazing job with the film cause it's super funny and underrated and shows why Michael Keaton is such an excellent actor i mean each self of his is unique the 2nd one is the bad boy, the 3rd one is some kind of the food expert and some people actually said is gay but i don't think so i think he was just the one that was scared of everything and 4th easily the funniest since he is the dumbest of the 4. If you loved any of those 5 movies i mentioned you will not be disappointed the man is just a genius.

Ramis' follow-up to Stuart Saves His Family was much more popular, but, I must say, it's a total dud. Michael Keaton plays a busy man who doesn't have enough time between his demanding construction job and his family (Andie MacDowell plays his wife). While on a job, he meets up with a scientist who offers to clone him. He now has a double, but soon that's not enough, so he gets a third. Then the two clones conspire and make a fourth. The three clones differ from the original Keaton quite a bit. The first time, it makes some sense. 2 is a bit more cynical, knowing that he's the clone who has to work. 3, for some reason, is gay. 4, since he's a clone of a clone, is a daffy moron. So Keaton is basically giving four performances here, so he has a lot of opportunity to show his acting chops. Unfortunately, by 1996, Keaton had pretty much hit rock-bottom, and he does little but mug throughout the movie. It doesn't help that the script flat-out sucks. No other actor has anything else to do, so it's all up to Keaton and he flops.

One person sells MULTIPLICITY: Michael Keaton. And Michael Keaton. And Michael Keaton. And Michael Keaton.Keaton is Doug Kinney, so swamped in career and family life that in order to find felicity for himself, he creates a clone to share the burden of domesticity. But one clone turns into two clones turns into three clones… the complicity confusing his workmates, his wife (Andie MacDowell), and especially himself.Keaton displays his magnificent multifaceted elasticity by playing every clone with a distinct personality - and never lapses or loses conviction in the four different archetypes. Keaton's performances are so subtle, and work so well against each of himself, that we never notice how stunning his portrayals are; how much blood, sweat and CGI must have gone into learning his lines in a certain character and then playing off three other actors who would eventually be replaced by him - and playing off them four different times as four different types!It is a jaw-dropping performance. Clone Number 1 (whom Doug calls "2") is The Bruce Willis - the masculine side of Doug predominant; "3" is Doug's feminine side predominant; when "2" clones himself to make "4," it's a monkey boy, because "you know how copies of a copy are not as good as the original..." Don't bring analyticity – or it gets disturbing. So the movie never dwells on the cloning process or its moral implications. The only moral authority is Doug's Rule Number One: "No one sleeps with my wife except me!" Of course, one rainy night when Doug "1" is away, that specificity is not simplicity when Doug's wife wants fluidity… Keaton is in every single scene, yet because he plays the four personalities so convincingly, when Doug "1" spends so much time offscreen trying to stay on eternal vacation we feel like we're watching three other guys playing Keaton playing Doug! We kick ourselves to remind us it's Keaton on screen IN PERPETUITY. The visual acuity - lighting and sightlines - is 95-percent on target, and as Doug's clones build in their multiplexity, Keaton's synchronicity with his multiplicity is ingenuity incongruity.Directed by Harold Ramis, MULTIPLICITY is bound to be good gratuity from the get-go. Keaton takes it into orbital superfluity.Ably supported by Andie McDowell and her strange accent, reliably confused in all the right places, as is the rest of the cast (Richard Masur, Eugene Levy, Ann Cusack), who feature minimally because Keaton is hogging all the screen time.Message comes through loud and clear - having more of yourself doesn't make life easier, but actually harder; multiplicity breeds instability. There are metaphors on top of metaphors: Doug had to go outside of himself to see himself; in discontinuity, Doug learns continuity; in promiscuity, Doug learns monogamy; in ambiguity, I've lost myself in trying to rhyme everything… After "2" clones himself, the real Doug yells without irony, "You can't just go around cloning people!" Doubt anyone else could have pulled off these roles with as much electricity in their authenticity and eccentricity.After all, there's only one Michael Keaton! --Review by Poffy The Cucumber (for Poffy's Movie Mania).