'Twins' is terrific!
It is another one 'of those films' that I've heard about for as long as time (though post-watch it doesn't seem as (relative) well known as I thought it was!) but clearly never got around to watching it. Well I have now and I'm certainly glad I did, it's a great watch. Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger are a fantastic duo.
DeVito is always good, one of my favourites to see onscreen. Schwarzenegger impresses, I've obviously seen a decent amount of his work but I'd have to say this is the most I've enjoyed him so far I think. I have basically only seen him as a brute force machine before, so it's pleasant to see a performance of his with a bit more depth.
Interesting to see Kelly Preston appear, even if I wouldn't have recognised her if it wasn't for the opening credits. I enjoyed Marshall Bell's role, one I actually would've liked to have seen more of to be honest - he made for a good bad guy!
It'a a shame that we won't be getting a sequel to this, it would've been awesome to see DeVito and Schwarzenegger back together older... especially with the early rumoured addition of Eddie Murphy. I reckon that would've been fun.
Review by LNeroBlockedParent2023-01-08T04:20:32Z
It's funny the things you remember. I was somewhere between 8 and 12 when I first saw this, and don't think I've seen it since, but there were several lines that I remembered decades later upon just now rewatching it.
This film holds up amazingly well. Arnie and DeVito are a riot, and it was a barrel of laughs all the way through. This type of film could have relied on cheap dumb physical humor and obvious jokes and called it a day, but the writing strikes just the right notes at the right time; Schwarzenegger plays the virtuous and cultured "everything virgin" much better than would be expected (and was intentionally funny rather than groan inducing, ala Total Recall), and DeVito... He's Danny DeVito, and this film gives him ample opportunities to wring every bit of impish mirth out of the script.
What surprised me is that the sincere and touching moments actually got to me, to the point that I found myself tearing up twice while watching. Maybe it's because I only had one parent, myself, but I think that Reitman really nailed the careful balance of tone. It's a rare example of "magical dramedy", since it has elements that are what I would characterize as "casually supernatural", but given the entire film is basically a family film that uses the setup as a conceit for its antics, it's not diminishing either itself or any kind of concept, like a """sci-fi"""" film filled with nonsense, yet asks you to take it at face value. Because of that, I found that all its elements work very well together.