Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511200094
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If memory serves, the plot is more or less a rehash of the 1961 Disney movie, "The Parent Trap," with identical twin girls playing matchmaker.
Alyssa Calloway (Ashley Olsen) is a pampered rich kid. Amanda Lemmon (Mary-Kate Olsen) is a tomboy orphan. They meet at a lake where Alyssa's billionaire dad (Steve Guttenberg) has a summer place. He also sponsors the camp for poor city kids there. When the two lookalikes meet, they decide that he'd be perfect for Amanda's caseworker Diane (a decidedly plump Kirstie Alley).
The first problem is that he's engaged to venomous socialite Clarice Kensington (scene stealer Jane Sibbett). The second problem is that a bizarre Staten Island family aims to adopt Amanda. Once those conflicts have been set up, Deborah Dean Davis' amiable script jumps through all of the familiar hoops.
The adults in the cast do justice to the thin material, but they know that the film's target audience isn't really interested in them. The Olsen twins, already established TV stars, have center stage and they mug it up shamelessly.
The kids in the audience at one Friday matinee were completely entertained. They quieted down as soon as the film started, stayed in their seats all the way through and seemed to enjoy themselves.
So, who cares what grumpy old movie reviewers think? This kind of mid-budget children's comedy has been extremely popular with the studios in recent years, and this one will probably do well.
It Takes Two **
A Warner Bros. release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View 6. 100 min. Rated PG for a little comic strong language.
by CNB