Twins

Twins (1988)

Runtime: 107 minutes

Directed by: Ivan Reitman

Starring: Arnold, Danny De Vito, Kelly Preston, Chloe Bell, Marshall Bell

From: Universal

Yet another movie I saw as a kid but never revisited as an adult until now. It leaving Prime in a matter of hours after posting of this review is the main reason why. The memories are hazy on whether this was a theatrical experience at the age of 7 or not but I did see the movie on VHS at least once. Years ago, my parents were discussing the film and I was asked if I recalled the scene where Arnold looked at a giant advertisement for Rambo III and mocked Stallone’s physique… no I did not. Now, the feud they had at the time is silly considering they have been bosom buddies for literal decades now.

What I remembered of Twins: only a few fragments. Thus, the key subplot of Marshall Bell, Delivery Man of an expensive item in the trunk of a Cadillac which is stolen by Vincent and is to be delivered to someone named BEETROOT MCKINLEY--there was no memory of that whatsoever. After all these years… while not an 80’s classic, Twins was still a good time. Naturally, the wacky gimmick of “Arnold and Danny De Vito are twin brothers thanks to genetic engineering gone wrong” is amusing throughout; you couldn’t cast better for a genetic marvel than Schwarzenegger and of course De Vito can play “sleazy character” in his sleep.

There aren’t many surprises as Julius leaves his tropical island to finally find his twin yet I still laughed. Of course the naïve Julius changes as he finally is introduced to The Real World and of course the streetwise Vincent changes as he finally experiences brotherly love. Twins is an affable time as the main characters go on their journey which includes a road trip, romance, and some violence. I do laugh now that this was rated PG with all the shootings that occur. At times this was busy w/ subplots but I was still engaged with the film, the madcap premise, and Kelly Preston/Chloe Webb as the love interests. Given a few moments (including what I’ll describe as “a mating pose” from Preston) the movie obviously wasn’t viewed during my teen years!

I did hear years ago that Heather Graham played their mom in the opening; what did surprise me: the soundtrack was more fire than expected. Little Richard, Philip Bailey, Herbie Hancock, The Spinners, and several songs from Nicolette Larson/Jeff Beck/Tony Bozzio, who appear on camera playing music for a few minutes in a club. This was one reason why I was happy for this revisit long overdue, but it had been ages since a review of an Arnold movie also and I thankfully was entertained by something that hadn’t aged too poorly.