Let's say your life is like Doug Kinney's. You work a demanding job that demands more every day, you have a family you hardly see and a stack of household repairs you never have time to do. The pressures mount; you're at wit's end. When a disturbingly at-ease geneticist offers to solve your problems by giving you a clone of yourself, what do you do?

You laugh in his face! Even after he convinces you that the process of human cloning is not only possible but convenient and affordable, you still laugh in his face. Anyone who has watched enough TV knows that having someone pretend to be you -- even if that person is identically you -- leads to disaster. You'd have to run around avoiding yourself, yet somehow know exactly what your other self has done. Any time gained by having an extra pair of hands would be lost in sneaking about and spinning yarns to keep your clone a secret. And what if the clone doesn't obey you? The whole idea is ludicrous, ridiculous, preposterous...

... and, in MULTIPLICITY, hilarious.

Michael Keaton plays Doug Kinney and I guess old Doug never had time to watch enough TV. He buys the geneticist's pitch and has a clone made. And though he can barely keep a handle on his newly bifurcated life, he has another clone made because he still can't get all his work done. I guess old Doug isn't too bright either.

Dealing with the clones is more complicated than simply knowing which one is doing what. As exact duplicates of Doug, they have all his memories and needs -- including the need to be with his wife, Laura, played by the wontedly radiant Andie MacDowell. But as separate individuals accumulating separate experience, they develop divergent personalities. How the personalities mesh and conflict is a big part of the fun.

Another big part of the fun in MULTIPLICITY is the age-old art of the Farce. Ducking into bathrooms, hiding behind menus, falling out of beds, the increasingly unmanageable situations -- it's all farce. I was worried that MULTIPLICITY would not pull this kind of comedy off. But it does. While the farcical scenes are often predictable, perfect timing and delivery keep them consistently funny and never tedious.

Now, I'm not nuts about Michael Keaton, but I have to take my hat off to him for this picture. The task of playing two or more characters in a single movie is tough enough. Playing two or more characters in the same scene -- scene after scene -- is a feat beyond comprehension. Keaton does an incredible job, conveying the nuances that grow into each clone's traits and generally making the whole scenario strangely believable. (And he's funny, too.)

MULTIPLICITY was directed by Harold Ramis who directed GROUNDHOG DAY and played Egon in GHOSTBUSTERS. I loved GROUNDHOG DAY and I could see Ramis's comedic sensibilities at work in MULTIPLICITY. For example, Ramis knows the science in MULITIPLICITY is 100% baloney. As the Doug undergoes the cloning process, lights flash and meters wave. When the completed clone floats to the top of the bath, a kitchen timer goes "Ding!"

What are the problems with the movie? While MULTIPLICITY deals very well with some of the issues raised by cloning, I would have liked to see more confusion with identity among the clones. After all, their memories and personalities were identical to Doug's at the moment of their creation. There's no reason that simply because they are told they are clones they should so easily accept the role of Doug's workhorses. A related problem is that the personality of the third clone seemed too divergent from the start. Fixing these problems might have made for a more consistent movie, but not a funnier one.

Any other warnings? MULTIPLICITY is a slow starter; a couple scenes don't hit the funny button as strongly as intended; and you do have to put up with a dollop of Hollywood sentimentality near the end. Otherwise, it's a nice movie that frequently had me in stitches. I wouldn't blame you if you waited for the video, but wouldn't you rather laugh now?

(So tell me something. when Oscar time rolls around next year, could Michael Keaton be nominated for both Best Actor *and* Best Supporting Actor for MULTIPLICITY? And if so, could he win?)

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