Twins – It shouldn’t work (but it totally does!)

‘Twins’ is probably the film that first proved that ‘Hollywood action hardmen’ COULD do comedy.  Before this it was unheard of that someone as well-known for ‘action’ could ever try and be funny.  However, ‘Twins’ proves that the right actors, meeting with the right script, can produce something that stands the test of time.

The premise is simple (if only a little far-fetched) that a *ahem* ‘perfect’ man (Arnold Schwarzenegger) grows up on a tropical island, to discover that he actually has a long-lost twin brother back in mainland USA (Danny DeVito).  Therefore, our – unusually naive – Arnie heads to LA to find him.

I first saw this film when I was a kid and loved it then, simply because I was a massive fan of Schwarzenegger and this was the first of his films I was legally allowed to see in the cinema.  However, now I’m older (and I can almost quote the film word for word), I can appreciate it on a new level.  It really is ‘perfectly written.’

There’s never a moment of the script that feels dragged out, or could be left on the cutting room floor.  Every second either moves the plot on, establishes character, or is simply very funny.  Arnie proves that he can do more than just beat people up (although he still cracks the odd skull or two here) and plays ‘the straight man’ brilliantly to DeVito’s zany comic character.

‘Twins’ stands up today as it did back then.  You don’t need to be a huge fan of Arnie’s to  appreciate this.  You only need a sense of humour.  It’s a comedy that doesn’t rely on gross or crude humour and it’s not topical, which helps it stay as enjoyable today as it was back then.  Maybe it was ‘lightning in a bottle’ as many other ‘action heroes’ have tried their hand at comedy since (including Schwarzenegger/DeVito again in the ill-fated ‘Junior’) and it was never half as good as this.

There are few films today that can be described so genuinely as ‘fun for all the family.’ But, while we still have all these ‘blasts from the past,’ who cares?

10/10 The Monty Python Knights of Camelot are currently looking for this