It Takes Two
Identical twin 9-year-old girls, one a poor orphan, the other a rich heiress, cause confusion when they decide to meddle in their caretakers' love lives in this family-oriented comedy. Amanda (Mary Kate Olsen) is the orphan, a scrappy young girl with no family, relying on the support of her caring social worker, Diane (Kirstie Alley). When Diane brings Amanda to a summer camp, she first encounters Alyssa (Ashley Olsen), the wealthy daughter of the camp's sponsor, Roger Callaway (Steve Guttenberg). The girls immediately bond and decide to switch places for the fun of it. They soon conclude that their lives would be improved if Roger and Diane were to get together and form a family, and they set out to bring the adults together. More jaded, older viewers may be put off by the film's saccharine tone and derivative, Parent Trap-like narrative, but the inoffensive humor and the presence of popular TV stars the Olsen Twins should appeal to family audiences. more..
Director: Andy Tennant
Starring: Kirstie Alley,Steve Guttenberg, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Philip Bosco
Writer Deborah Dean Davis and director Andy Tennant are fully aware of the absolute predictability of their material and therefore make the getting to an inevitable ending as much fun as possible.
It seems only fitting that the flavorless Guttenberg would land in this smooth tapioca concoction, but Alley deserves better.
The movie is harmless and fitfully amusing.
The Olsens' precociousness and sitcom-style mugging grate at first, but I found myself warming to their movie in its last half - thanks mostly to Alley, a crackerjack physical comic who's incapable of a flat or colorless note.
A rote variation on Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper that is marginally salvaged by those spunky Olsen twins from ABC's Full House.
Favorite Movie Actress
Kids' Choice Awards (1996)
Best Performance by an Actress Under Ten - Feature Film
Young Artist Awards (1996)
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