TWINS
A film review by Randy Parker
Copyright 1996 Randy Parker
RATING: **1/2 (out of ****)
(Review written in 1988)
TWINS, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, is the epitome of high-concept, disposable entertainment.
In this check-your-brain-in-at-the-door movie, Schwarzenegger and DeVito are fraternal twins, the result of a genetic engineering experiment gone awry. Schwarzenegger as Julius is the twin who received all the "good" genes. Raised by a scientist on an isolated tropical island, Julius is intelligent, well-educated, physically fit, and good-natured, but he lacks experience in the real world. DeVito as Vincent is the twin who received the "leftover" genes. Raised in an orphanage in L.A., he is a good-for-nothing car thief and general hoodlum. Separated at birth, the two brothers finally meet for the first time after Julius leaves his island-home to track down Vincent in L.A.
Given the brilliant casting and talent involved, TWINS has very little ambition. Although the movie is consistently entertaining, it never really rises above the level of high-concept formula. TWINS is far too willing to milk easy laughs from the striking dissimilarity between the twins and far too reluctant to develop its characters. The strength and heart of TWINS is the relationship between the two brothers, who grow to love and respect one another. Unfortunately, the film's action-oriented subplots distract from the strong chemistry that develops between Julius and Vincent.
The most pleasant surprise in TWINS is Schwarzenegger's knack for comedy. His performance as a fish out of water unfamiliar with American culture is convincing and endearing. His social ineptitude and inexperience produce the movie's funniest moments.
DeVito, on the other hand, is exactly what you'd expect. He plays the standard loud-mouth, smart-alec character that we've come to know and hate. This incarnation of the character is not much different from his past roles; he's as obnoxious, immature, and irritating as ever. Kelly Preston also deserves mention; she gives TWINS a healthy dose of pulse-raising sizzle as the sexy and stunning beauty who takes interest in Julius.
Fortunately, despite all its predictable and uninspired humor, TWINS delivers a lot more fun and entertainment than you might expect.
--- Randy Parker rparker@slip.net http://www.shoestring.org
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews