Twins

"Only their mother can tell them apart."

1988 1h 47m EN

😐

6.1

MID

🥫

44%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.2

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 2,632🥫44%Rotten Tomatoes●50Metacritic★6.2IMDB · 145,665

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a south seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate low life and is about to be killed by loan sharks.

“Only their mother can tell them apart.”

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Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Julius Benedict
Danny DeVito
Vincent Benedict
Kelly Preston
Marnie Mason
Chloe Webb
Linda Mason
Bonnie Bartlett
Mary Ann Benedict
Marshall Bell
Webster
Trey Wilson
Beetroot McKinley
David Caruso
Al Greco

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ivan Reitman
Writers: Timothy Harris, William Davies, William Osborne
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $217M — a 14.4× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ivan Reitman, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Georges Delerue. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sheldon Kahn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito and Kelly Preston carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Only their mother can tell them apart.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0096320 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ivan Reitman directs. Andrzej Bartkowiak behind the camera. Georges Delerue scores. Sheldon Kahn cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $217M — a 14.4× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
238 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Ivan Reitman, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Georges Delerue. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Sheldon Kahn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito and Kelly Preston carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Only their mother can tell them apart.".
8IMDB entry: tt0096320 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 12 themes, including "experiment", "orphanage", "twins", "perfection".

The technical file

Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Original score: Georges Delerue
Editing: Sheldon Kahn
Production design: James D. Bissell
Costume design: Gloria Gresham
Makeup / hair: Judith A. Cory
Stunt coordinator: Joel Kramer
Runtime: 107 min · 1h 47m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $216,614,388
Return: 1444% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Twins (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes: 44% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 50/100
IMDB rating: 6.2/10 · 145,665 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

4 wins & 1 nomination total

Also by

Ivan Reitman

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-11-29
★ 7/10
So much fun to be had here. As long as you know what to expect, and really that shouldn't be too hard to do when you are getting ready to watch a movie that has Danny DeVito & Arnold Schwarzenegger as twin brothers! Julius (Arnold) & Vincent (Danny) are the result of a genetic experiment that should have realised the perfect child, instead they were born as twins, separated at birth and both went on to lead different lives. Julius was raised on a gorgeous island, he is greatly educated and knows no fear of the world, Vincent on the other hand is a low class womanising weasel from the big city. Upon learning of having a twin brother, Julius sets off to the big city to find the brother he never knew he had, trouble is, is that Julius has no comprehension of city ways, and coupled with the fact that Vincent really isn't the brotherly kind, this only compounds the situation further. Twins is a very tidy piece, the two leads play off of each other very well, and as dumb as the plotting is, it sure as hell makes for a good fun night viewing. Female gravitas comes in the form of the sultry Kelly Preston and the criminally undervalued Chloe Webb, but really the film's charm is all down to the little and large act of DeVito & Schwarzenegger, plenty of laughs here. So open the ale, chomp on the popcorn, and leave the brain at the door. 7/10 Yakety Yak, Yakety Yak.
Kamurai2020-08-07
★ 6/10
Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend, if you're okay with a date movie. This movie holds up surprisingly well. It is dated quite a bit, just the dollar amounts they mention are off, and car phones and pay phones. I give full credit to the delivery of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito that keeps this movie enjoyable after all this time. The premise is almost laughable in 1988, but since then we've come so far as it actually being possible that this moves from science fiction to realistic fiction. Yeah DeVito's character is awful on the redeemable side, and Schwarzenegger is comically pure, but it's about using both extremes to find a middle ground in the solutions to our problems. It is also about families reuniting, and strengthening bonds: it's a touching story when you get past the comedy and gunfire. Worth a watch if you can stand a trip in the way back machine to 1988.
JPV8522021-09-13
★ 7/10
Fun and all around enjoyable comedy that doesn't devolve into cheap humor (i.e. constant jokes about their height for instance) and instead two opposites working well off of one another. Schwarzenegger is great as sweet innocent and naïve while Devito as a schemer and crook still was likeable. 3.75/5 I think I had seen this sometime back in the 90s but didn't remember much of it.