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Keaton Quadrupled
Multiplicity, starring Michael Keaton and Andie MacDowell; directed by Harold Ramis
For awhile there it looked as if Michael Keaton had literally disappeared into Batman, so it's particularly gratifying that in Mutiplicity his comic genius comes back in triplicate and then some. He plays Doug, an overworked father of two with a marriage to Laura ( Andie MacDowell ) that would be ideal if he weren't away on the job most of the time. His line is construction; he's often doubling his efforts just to cover the screw-ups caused by the overload. He's thus extra-ripe for the sales pitch when, one day on a job site at a mysterious laboratory, he encounters a doctor (Harris Yulen) who offers to clone him.
As depicted by director Harold Ramis and his brain trust of screenwriters, this process is a wiggy, fairy-tale cousin of Xeroxing- complete with humming machinery and flashing lights. In the twinkling of an eye, Doug is face to face with an identical replica of himself: they even share memories. Who's to say who's who? The doctor has helpfully numbered them "1" and "2," but for the rest of it, the two Dougs have to push and shove. What's smartest and funniest about Multiplicity is that it's never content to rest on this simple gag; no joke is ever given the time to become stale. The instant the two Dougs have divided their labor, work expands accordingly. Soon enough, they need a third clone: Number 3 turns out to be the feminine "homemaker" of the group; Number 1 remains the amiably balanced original; Number 2 is the super-macho worker bee. Eventually, a Number 4 comes into the picture--"a Xerox of a Xerox," who (being a copy of a copy) has less on the ball than Rain Man.
Keaton's dazzling timing and trademark schizoid focus shines when the four argue. Doug manages to conceal his quadrupled existence from Laura--giving MacDowell an opportunity to show off her own considerable comic prowess as she reacts to her husband's apparently split personality. Number 1 insists that he be the only one to sleep with her, and this pays off in a hilarious, sexy set piece in which MacDowell unwittingly attempts to seduce the whole group. Ramis seamlessly orchestrates the special effects that allow us to believe we're actually looking at four identical men. The result is a near perfect follow-up to his energetic, inventive 1993 triumph, Groundhog Day. He manages to make Multiplicity funny and satisfying at nearly every turn. (The ending is a particularly brilliant, elegant solution to the knotty problem of what to do with four look-alike heroes.) What's more, by twice planting his personal flag in the rich topic of "overwork" and its healing hallucinations--work being the waking nightmare Bill Murray 's groundhog-seer and Keaton's contractor have in common--he is staking out (as all inspired comic directors must do) a territory that is both new and his own. -- F.X. Feeney (A Columbia Pictures release; rated PG-13 for mild innuendo.)
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