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Rewind Do a double take
Movies featuring twins have never been in short supply, but here are a few worth another look.
By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 26, 2002
Twins are everywhere lately.
Data welcomes his long-lost "brother" android into the family in Star Trek: Nemesis; both characters are played by Brent Spiner. In the forthcoming delightfully twisted Adaptation, Nicolas Cage plays identical twin screenwriters Charlie and Donald Kaufman. Fraternal twins Whitey and Eleanor Duvall are two of many characters voiced by Adam Sandler in the atrocious animated holiday feature Eight Crazy Nights. And the Weasley twins, in both Harry Potter movies, are played by real-life siblings James and Oliver Phelps.
It's not a new plot device. The big screen seldom has gone long without offering a home to twins, crucial to the action in the following movies:
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Dead Ringers (1988) -- Jeremy Irons is superb in this exceedingly creepy thriller, directed by David Cronenberg, about the rise and fall of twin gynecologists (Irons). It was based on true events.
Twin Falls Idaho (1999) -- Michael Polish (director-writer) and his identical twin brother Mark Polish (co-writer) play conjoined twins in love with a call girl (Michele Hicks) in a decidedly quirky love story.
Twins (1988) -- Arnold Schwarzenegger is a superman and Danny DeVito is a small-time criminal, twins separated at birth after a genetics experiment went bad. The cinematic conceit didn't go so well, either.
Dominick and Eugene (1988) -- Tom Hulce and Ray Liotta are twins; slow-minded Dominick (Hulce) works as a garbage man to help pay for Eugene's medical-school education. Jamie Lee Curtis also stars.
Big Business (1988) -- Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler play two sets of identical twins, all staying in the Plaza Hotel. The ensuing mix-ups are built for hilarity.
The Krays (1990) -- Martin and Gary Kemp, founding members of the band Spandau Ballet, are Reggie and Ronnie Kray, real-life gangsters who ruled London's underworld during the 1960s.
[Photo: Disney]
Hayley Mills, left and right, is Sharon and Susan in The Parent Trap, a 1961 movie about twins scheming to get their parents back together.
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The Parent Trap (1961) -- Any divorce might be fixed by the scheming of the children, right? That's what happens when twin sisters (Hayley Mills) conspire to bring their parents back together. It's fondly recalled as a childhood favorite, but, on second viewing, is somewhat less impressive than remembered. The cast also includes Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith. Mills starred in two follow-up movies made for television.
The Parent Trap (1998) -- The potentially damaging message remains the same in this remake, with Lindsay Lohan as the twins, Dennis Quaid as the California-based businessman dad, and Natasha Richardson as mom, a fashion designer from London.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) -- Leonardo DiCaprio is the mean-hearted King Louis XIV and the ruler's jailed brother in a period piece adapted from the Alexander Dumas novel. The first-rate cast also includes Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu and Gabriel Byrne.
Chained For Life (1951) -- One conjoined twin is accused of killing her ex-husband, and the court must decide how to punish her without penalizing her sister. Real-life conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, also seen in Tod Browning's notorious Freaks, starred.
Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978) -- Jim Dale plays the dual roles of a tough gunfighter and a timid coward, twins asked by their father (also Dale) to help take control of a small town in this middling Disney western, also starring Don Knotts and Karen Valentine.
The House of Yes (1997) -- Indie queen Parker Posey and Josh Hamilton are twins, a little too close to each other, in an offbeat comedy that may be too self-consciously hip for its own good.
Life is Sweet (1990) -- Claire Skinner and Jane Horrocks play disimilar twentysomething London twins Natalie and Nicola, respectively, in an alternately comic and poignant gem from director Mike Leigh (Topsy-Turvy). The cast also includes Alison Steadman and Jim Broadbent.
The Dark Mirror (1946) -- A woman is accused of killing her boyfriend, a doctor, but she and her identical twin (both played by Olivia de Havilland) have alibis.
Equinox (1992) -- Matthew Modine stars as good and evil twins, separated at birth, in a perversely comic drama, also starring Fred Ward, M. Emmet Walsh, Marisa Tomei and Lara Flynn Boyle.
Double Impact (1991) -- Jean Claude Van Damme does a little stretching, as twins bent on avenging the death of their parents. Twice is not so nice.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen -- Lest we face the wrath of adolescent girls everywhere, mention must be made of the too-cute Olsen twins, toddlers during the run of television's Full House. They've appeared together in scores of productions, most made for television. The Olsens play themselves in next year's Charlie's Angels sequel and appeared together in 1998's Billboard Dad.
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