Multiplicity

Bomb Rating: 

I was hiding under my theater seat, cowering indebilitating fear.

I must admit, I didn't actually watch much of this film. I caught the first part about Doug Kinney (Michael Keaton) having a rough time at work and having to deal with the guilt of not being able to spend enough time with his wife, Laura (Andie MacDowell), and kids. Then a scientist offers him an out, he takes it, and suddenly there are two Dougs. After that, I was hiding under my theater seat, cowering in debilitating fear.

"Multiplicity" is one of the most intense, frightening films I've ever seen. From the second Doug creates his first clone, the movie grips you with the kind of terror one imagines people experience in near-death episodes. Were the people around me missing something? They asked me what was wrong. The theater manager came by with a first-aid kit. Finally, the people's ignorance and a film spiraling toward an apocalyptic conclusion forced me to scream out in the voice of a man cursed with a horrible vision: "YOU FOOLS! CAN'T YOU SEE? THEY'RE GOING TO CLONE ANDIE MACDOWELL!"

Suddenly, the theater was transformed into a chaotic, screaming stampede. Soda sprayed. Chairs flew. Babies were thrown at the screen. Theatergoers clawed at each other's eyes as they fought their way to the exits. The projectionist was hauled out of his cubicle and beaten with the severed arm of the theater manager. And still the movie went on, hurtling recklessly toward the inevitable catastrophe that two Andie MacDowells would bring to a film. The woman whose acting in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" caused the "ugh" heard round the world was going to be duplicated. The horror, the horror.

It gets worse. Doug ends up having three clones. The third Doug is a clone of a clone and basically a retard. Thus, a retarded Andie MacDowell clone, though redundant, also seemed a possibility. I can only say that the filmmakers' decision not to carry out this horrible act left me relieved. However, after a man has to deal with such possibilities, can he ever really be the same again?

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