Twins
Twins is a 1988 film starring Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger as twins.
Yes, that Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Julius and Vincent Benedict are fraternal twins; the results of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to produce the perfect child, using sperm donated by six different fathers. The mother was told that the children died at birth, while the children were informed once old enough that their mother died in childbirth. The program was a success but was shut down, due to one twin inheriting the "desirable traits", and the other being the "genetic trash": Julius is strong, handsome, kind and intelligent, while Vincent is, well, Danny DeVito.
The two meet when they're both 35 and Julius bails Vincent out of jail. Vincent doesn't warm up to Julius right away, but he soon does.
Vincent steals a car that happens to have a secret prototype fuel injector worth five million dollars in the trunk. He is going to drive to Houston to sell it for money he owes to loan sharks, but Julius finds out that their mother is really alive and they might be able to find her, and the drive to Houston soon turns into a road trip with Vincent, Julius, Vincent's girlfriend Linda and Linda's sister Marnie. They are pursued by Webster, the criminal responsible for transporting the fuel injector. Hilarity Ensues.
A sequel, called (what else?) Triplets, has been "just about" to go into production since around the year 2000, featuring Eddie Murphy as the third brother. That sound you can hear is the entire world doing a collective "What?" As of December 2018 it is allegedly in production.
- Adorkable: Julius.
- Adult Child: Julius again.
- Babies Ever After: At the end, lo and behold, the twins have married the twins and have each had...twins.
- Bedroom Adultery Scene: Vincent's introductory scene.
- Berserk Button: Julius, after Traven denied his involvement with the experiment.
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Julius: For the first time in my life I'm... PISSED OFF!! |
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- Beware the Nice Ones: Julius.
- Big Guy, Little Guy
- Car Skiing: Julius does one of these completely by accident his first time driving a car.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Julius makes Vincent grow a conscience, which irritates Vincent to no end.
- The Cynic: Vincent has had one too many disappointments in his life to believe in concepts like love, kindness and hope.
- Different As Night and Day: Duh.
- Gentle Giant: Keep in mind that this role was very much Playing Against Type for Arnold at first.
- Informed Ability: Some of Julius' abilities, like his superior skill at math.
- Jerkass: Mitchell Traven. He treats Vincent like crap, because his unexpected birth was the reason the experiment was considered a failure. Also because of it, he told Mary Ann, their birth mother, that her (only) child died at birth.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Vincent.
- Loan Shark: Vincent is hounded by the family of loan sharks almost every other scene. Played for Laughs, as they are continuously injured and quite non-threatening.
- Missing Mom
- Nice Guy: Julius.
- Non-Identical Twins: Vincent still didn't believe this at first.
- Linda and Marnie are also fraternal twins.
- Pet the Dog: Or cat in this case, as Vincent -- despite being a consistent jerk - is very kind and loving towards his pet cat (ironically named Julius).
- Separated at Birth: Natch.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Of course Vincent was kind of a jerkass his whole life, but became a bigger jerkass after he was told their mother died and took it out on Linda and Julius.
- He was also told that he wasn't planned and was the leftover bad parts to Julius' good parts. That certainly didn't do much for his mood.
- Twin Telepathy: Naturally. The Twins are even in constant Synchronization, much to Vincent's initial annoyance.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Vincent named his beloved cat Julius, but long before finding out about his brother. It qualifies, though, in that it is another example of the Twins being on the same wavelength, even if they were unaware of it.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Julius.