Multiplicity (film)

Multiplicity
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Harold Ramis
Produced by	Trevor Albert Harold Ramis
Screenplay by	Chris Miller Mary Hale Harold Ramis Lowell Ganz Babaloo Mandel
Story by	Chris Miller (short story)
Starring	Michael Keaton Andie MacDowell Eugene Levy Harris Yulin
Music by	George Fenton
Cinematography	László Kovács
Editing by	Craig Herring
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	July 17, 1996
Running time	117 min.
Language	English
Budget	$45,000,000
Box office	$21,075,014

Multiplicity is a 1996 comedy film, starring Michael Keaton and Andie MacDowell. The film was co-produced and directed by Harold Ramis. The original music score was composed by George Fenton.

Doug Kinney (Michael Keaton) finds his time stretched to the limit between his wife, career and family, until he meets a helpful scientist who offers to clone him. After Doug realizes that he is having trouble at home managing the kids, while his other clone is at work, he decides to make another clone to help around the house, as another one of his clones realizes he is having trouble he then also gets a clone. Leading to a guest house full of clones - all played by Keaton and each with a different personality - while his unsuspecting wife Laura Kinney, (played by Andie MacDowell) is confused about Doug's sudden personality changes.

Synopsis

Doug Kinney (Michael Keaton) is a Los Angeles construction worker whose job is constantly getting in the way of his family. On one job to build a new wing of a scientific facility, Doug meets up with Dr. Leeds, a friendly scientist who has developed a successful method for cloning humans, and is introduced to Dr. Leeds' clone as proof. The scientist, who is sympathetic to Doug's troubles, allows Doug to make a clone of himself that can take over for him at work, while he tries to spend some quality time with his family. The clone, called Two has all of Doug's memory and knowledge, but is overly macho. The clone seems to be a dream come true, but while taking his wife, Laura, (Andie MacDowell) out to a restaurant for dinner, he finds that two is on his own date. Doug realizes clones are not as great as they seem, and Doug begins to worry about his clone being revealed.

Eventually two more clones are made. Three, in sharp contrast to Two, is extremely sensitive and thoughtful. He is much like a housewife, knowing how to cook very well, and take care of the house. (Two considers him a "wuss"). Four is cloned from Two, and has the mentality of an overly-curious child. Unfortunately, since he is a clone-of-a-clone, his IQ is considerably lower than that of his predecessors, since the personality defects are more pronounced when a clone is cloned (The analogy from the movie refers to how a copy of a copy may not be as sharp as the original), and this causes an annoyed Doug to decree a moratorium on cloning. One night Doug leaves home for a business trip. While Doug is gone each of the clones run into Laura and each one sleeps with her. The next day, Two comes down with a cold and is unable to go to work, so he sends Three, who knows nothing about construction. When Three goes to work, an on-site inspection causes Three to lose Doug's job.

As the movie progresses, Doug's wife becomes increasingly upset with her husband, as she is wondering about Doug's sudden personality changes and how Doug's clones have no memories of discussions Laura unwittingly had with another clone. Thinking Doug is ignoring her, she unknowingly pours out her heart out to Four, mentioning how (Doug) has never kept his promise on fixing the house, she asks him what he wants and is unromantically told "I want pizza". Upset, she takes the children to live with her parents. When Doug returns, he learns that Laura and the kids have left. He also learns from the clones' confessions that he has lost his job and each one of them have slept with Laura. Trying to figure out how to get Laura back, Four tells him about what she said to him on how he never fixed the house. With the help of the clones, Doug remodels the house and wins back the love of his wife. Doug also tells Laura he is planning to start his own construction business. Realizing Doug can take care of himself now, the three clones move away, later writing Doug that they have set up a successful pizzeria called Three Guys from Nowhere in Miami, Florida. Two becomes the business man of the shop and serves customers, and also gets to meet lots of women. Three is the head chef, and Four is the delivery boy as well as taking a second job as a paperboy (It's shown in the end of the film that he tosses a pizza box at a nearby house in the style of a paper boy throw).

Reception

The film was not a success at the box office, making back less than half of its $45 million budget and received mixed reviews from critics and currently has a 44% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

DVD

The film was first released to DVD on April 15, 1998, shortly after the format debuted; the Columbia/Tri-Star release was a single disc release featuring the ability to watch the film either in widescreen or in fullscreen but not featuring any bonus materials. Since then, a new Columbia/Sony release has replaced it, offering only Pan & Scan (1.33 aspect ratio) format. Widescreen support is still available on Region 2 editions of the movie.

External links

Film portal

• Multiplicity at the Internet Movie Database
• Multiplicity at AllRovi

References