MULTIPLICITY

title: MULTIPLICITY

year: 1997

cast: Michael Keaton, Andie McDowell, Brian Doyle-Murray, Richard Masur, Eugene Levy, Ann Cusack, Harris Yulin

director: Harold Ramis

rating: **1/2

Plot centers on a man who doesn't have time for his work, his wife, and his kids, so he... well let's just say he happens to find a guy who clones people. His first clone is a macho version of himself... leaving time for him to be an at-home dad (does "Mr. Mom" ring a bell?) while this clone goes to work for him... but the real Keaton grows tired of doing housework. So he gets another clone made, this one a sensitive guy bordering-on gay, for the housework. Eventually, these two clones get another clone created (it seems doing this becomes as easy as ordering pizza), who turns out to be a slobbering idiot... after all, you know what happens when a piece of paper is copied too much. The problem with this film doesn't only lie within the flimsy plot, but the humor, when it occurs, isn't funny enough to keep the viewer interested or to look forward to more. And while the special effects are good, making it seem like there are more than one Keaton on screen, he plays them all with way too many physical gestures... trying much too hard to give each clone a separate personality. All in all, it's a mindless headache of a film, entertaining on a certain level, but not enough to make it any good. Or very funny.