Multiplicity

Some men lead lives of quiet desperation. But Doug Kinney(Michael Keaton) is simply desperate. So desperate that he would do anything to try and balance the constant friction that exists between his job and the demands of his family. The situation is so extreme that he would have to be at least two people to do everything in one day. Hey, isn't there some scientific thing called cloning?

It sounds like a reasonably good premise. Someday, it might even make for a funny movie. But for now, viewers are stuck with Multiplicity, the film that conclusively proves that more is not necessarily merrier.

The plot of Multiplicity sounds like a bad math test. Doug is a building contractor whose job demands eighteen hours, six days a week. His two kids require another eighteen hours, seven days a week. Add in his wife Laura (Andie MacDowell) with a set of needs that easily tally up to thirty-six hours a day, eight days a week. Not surprisingly, Doug is incapable of successfully fulfilling any one's expectations.

So he decides to change the arithmetic through a fast round of multiplication. Thanks to a crackpot scientist (Harris Yulin) who can create clones with the ease of a baker cutting cookies, Doug has himself duplicated. Suddenly, he is a total workaholic (Doug 2) who does all of the housework (Doug 3) while still finding time for a leisurely session on the golf course (Doug 1). Once again, division proves to be the miracle worker of mathematics.

But just think of the many madcap situation that might ensue. If you can think of any, then you are already several steps ahead of the screenwriters. Multiplicity goes blank with the whole idea as the movie runs aground with Doug's protracted mid-life crisis. While everyone else does all his work, the original Doug spends his time sneaking off to basketball games and fretting about the prospect of his clones having a go at the wife.

What Doug should be worried about is the fact that his copies are almost as boring as their master. Doug 2 is an aggressive lout who spends his time firing people and cruising the secretarial pool. Doug 3 is a prissy fussbudget who devotes entire evenings to wrapping leftovers. When the inevitable Doug 4 arrives, he turns out to be a mentally stunted slob who behaves like a demented five year-old. This guy doesn't need therapy. He needs a whole new identity.

Keaton is a talented actor and the few genuine amusing moments in Multiplicity are tributes to his skill at milking the material. But Keaton's unusual screen persona is due to the often unpredictable and edgy range that he can project into a character. He can shift his face from child-like innocence to dark and dangerous impulses with just a single flick of his eyebrows. However, he doesn't play one-dimensional caricatures worth a lick and all of his Dougs suffer as a result.

The rest of the cast is shoved into the background. MacDowell alternates between domestic shrillness and sexual panting. As Doug's boss, Richard Masur lets his loud clothes do the talking. John deLancie does an easy day's work as the company's chief toady who is after Doug's job.

The one good gag in Multiplicity is the name of the condo that Doug is building. Unfortunately, Vista de Nada also sums up the movie.

Four Weddings and a Funeral

It always helps if a movie has a great script. It's also a big plus if the director is really good. On these counts, Four Weddings and a Funeral comes close, but no cigar. The screenplay is passable, and the direction is okay, but we're not talking Citizen Kane.

What Four Weddings and a Funeral does have, however, is an extremely good piece of ensemble acting by a set of performers who could read fig­ures from the stock market and still earn a warm laugh. It's a triumph of acting over film­making, but who's complaining? Acting may be the one thing that the English are still good at, and this film is a delightful tour de force that deftly lampoons the absurdity of good manners.

Hugh Grant heads a large cast in the central role of Charles, a young London bachelor who much prefers being a best man to being a groom. He routinely catches up with his pals and numerous ex-girlfriends at their various weddings, where it becomes obvious that Charles has a problem far greater than his ten­dency toward embarrassing faux pas. He's incapable of uttering those "three little words" of endearment — which is why he has so many ex-girl­friends.

This especially becomes a problem when he falls hopelessly in love with Andie McDowell. She's a visiting American who keeps popping up at the same weddings Charles attends. She and Charles begin an incredibly disjointed love affair, despite the fact that Charles can't admit that he's in love with her, and McDowell doesn't expect him to. Besides she's already engaged to a stuffy Scottish politician (Corin Redgrave), which is one of the reasons Grant is so unsure of where he stands with her.

Where the couple mostly stands is at the back of the chapel. Charles' friends are moving down the aisle with the predictability of salmon in the spring, but the closest he gets to the altar is when he fum­bles handing off the ring to the groom.

The plot to Four Weddings and a Funeral may sound thin, even contrived. It is. The whole movie is sliding across a remarkably thin sheet of ice, and what really saves it is some solid skating by Grant and McDowell. Also along for the ride is a long list of eccentric friends who are successfully fleshed out as full-blown characters. Even the minor bits are well handled, most notably one by Kenneth Grif­fiths, whose "Mad Old Man" steals a hysterical five minutes of screen time.

Director Mike Newell is clearly looking to reclaim the previous success he enjoyed with Enchanted April. Four Weddings and a Funeral isn't quite in the same league, but it's close enough. It's definitely one of the few bright spots of the season.