Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Tuesday's Overlooked Film: Multiplicity (1996)

I didn't much like Groundhog Day when I saw it, but I've come to realize the film enjoys a bit of a cult following nowadays. I haven't seen it since, but not long ago I read an interesting essay on Ramis's work, so I decided I should dip into an old VHS cassette I found some years ago from the trash bin containing Ramis's later Multiplicity.

Multiplicity is a bit like Groundhog Day, with its idea of cloning a person to make life easier. Having many Michael Keatons is not far away from Bill Murray living one particular day all over and over again. Both films are amiable, but contain some sharp notes on the middle-class way of life. The basic situation in Multiplicity allows many amusing moments and at times the films is a lot like a classic screwball comedy. All in all Multiplicity is an entertaining film, but I'm not sure whether I'd watch it again. Andie McDowell is not very interesting as the female lead, and the overall result is a bit too sweet to my taste.

A word of warning: if you don't like Michael Keaton, you probably won't like Multiplicity. I'm not one of his fans, but I could stand him in this, even when there were four of him on the screen.

More Overlooked Films at Todd Mason's blog here.

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