MULTIPLICITY (48)

Directed by: Harold Ramis

Starring: Michael Keaton, Andie MacDowell

The Pitch: Overworked executive clones himself to solve his not-enough-hours-in-the-day problems.

Theo Sez: A few years ago Bill Murray went through a patch of fine performances in neglected or under-rated films (QUICK CHANGE, WHAT ABOUT BOB?) before it all came together for him in Harold Ramis's brilliant GROUNDHOG DAY. Since Michael Keaton has recently been suffering a similar fate, proving himself a sensational actor in failures both deserved (MY LIFE) and not (SPEECHLESS), he must've seen this teaming with Ramis as a natural career-move; unfortunately the result is another near-miss, the star excellent as ever but unable to spark this sweet comedy into more than one-joke life. It takes about half the movie for the joke to run its course - after which, since the only real characters are the various clones and they're one-dimensional (that's the point), there's nowhere really to go except into ever-more-tired farce and, by the end, a desperate bid for the DUMB AND DUMBER audience. It's especially sad because, as in GROUNDHOG DAY, Ramis has a genuine (if intellectually woozy) point to make - that people could be happier if they'd only make more time for each other. In that sense this is a very 90s movie, a reaction to yuppie materialism and a benign paean to "family values" - and also, weirdly enough, in its rejection of go-getters and those who worship the work ethic, a continuation of the spirit of ANIMAL HOUSE (which Ramis co-wrote), only in more sedate and inevitably more middle-aged terms. Not counting the outrageous bit of product-placement, of course.