TWINS (1988) ** Arnold Schwarzenegger's greatest performance ever, which is something of a limited complement. And Kelly Preston's, which is a nonexistent one. Actually none of it would have worked much without Danny DeVito, and he's regularly had better moments. It's Arnold's vehicle though, and he acquits himself comedically better than you'd think. He mocks himself implicity, Sylvester Stallone explicitly...I think Sly could take him in a fight though, Sly is a lot smoother. No telling, they could dress up in fluorescent Godzilla suits with face paint and hit each other with trees...that would be a good movie. This one is too, but not quite that promising. Arnold delivers a few of his lines with some snap that suggest serious potential, the one about him driving for "chust vun hower" jumps to mind. You see, he and Devito are long lost twins, the result of a hideous government experiment in deceit and strange science, though an experiment not so disturbing as the one where the real Arnold goes into politics. Ivan Reitman does a good job extending a modestly humorous premise into a full-length moderately amusing film, and DeVito delivers a line or physical comedy with his ponytail when the breaks between smiles goes too long. In one of the most frustrating bits Jeff Beck is playing guitar with a country band out in a desert watering hole, but Ivan cuts just as they're launching into a volcanic rendition of Train Kept a-Rollin'. Ah well, it would have just showed up the rest of the film anyways.
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