Twins (1988) / YMMV

Ensemble Dark Horse: Beetroot McKinley is fondly remembered for his actor's charming performance and for subverting the role of the Big Bad he was set up as, by being willing to pay Vincent off rather than try to cheat or kill him despite ample opportunities to.
Franchise Original Sin: For Arnold Schwarzenegger as an actor, with this film marking the beginning of his move into Lighter and Softer films that eventually culminated in Batman & Robin. It worked here not just because of the novelty of seeing the Hollywood Action Hero doing a family comedy, but because the Straight Man role played to Schwarzenegger's strengths as an actor. By the time he made Last Action Hero, however, Badass Decay was setting in, especially as his characters got goofier.
Fridge Brilliance: The idea to mix sperm to get the perfect man is, of course, ridiculous. Of course, since one of their fathers looks a lot like Julius, you have to wonder if Traven didn't add a bit of his own "genetic material", resulting in Vince, making them, technically twin half-brothers, which is not unheard of, and is know as "heteropaternal superfecundation".
- It was probably supposed to be an early genetic engineering experiment, attempting to blend the genetics of the various men into a single batch of sperm, rather than just dumping a bunch of sperm samples in one vat. This was before Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke, however, and they simply didn't bother to explain it, either figuring the audience would get it anyway or wouldn't understand even if it was explained.
- Mixing sperm together doesn't somehow cause genes to get swapped, but the resulting chemical warfare among the sperm competing for fertilization does bias the child toward being more effective at reproducing.
Harsher in Hindsight: Marnie is seen smoking cigarettes several times, most notably after having sex with Julius. It's hard to see her do it after her actress Kelly Preston died from cancer in 2020 (of the breast, not lung, though smoking is still a risk factor in breast cancer).
Hilarious in Hindsight: Julius and Vince's conversation while posing in their brand-new matching clothes. Guess which "icy" character Arnold ended up playing:
Julius: Do I look cool now?
Vince: Mr. Ice!
- On that note; The Penguin and Mr. Freeze find out they are long lost twin brothers. This would get an acknowledgment at the Academy Award ceremony in 2024, where Schwarzenegger and DeVito presented together for an "obvious" reason — "we both tried to kill Batman."^note
Ho Yay: Believe it or not. Julius is a bit overly loving toward Vincent, Vincent doesn't mind after the first five minutes, the two get along almost perfectly, practice dancing together, hug constantly...
- True fact: Twins have a strong tendency to touch one another more than untwinned siblings, with no sexual connotation. Untwinned persons tend to see it as sexualized because they have no frame of reference.
Narm Charm: The entire movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as twin brothers? Laughably stupid, right? Despite this, the movie has a fair amount of touching familial moments between Julius and Vincent that make it far less silly than one might believe.
Retroactive Recognition:
- A then-unknown Heather Graham plays the twins' mother in the opening sequence.
- The unnamed Asian man is played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who is most recognizable as Shang Tsung.
- Vincent's friend Al is played by David Caruso, who is best known for his role as Horatio Caine in CSI: Miami.
Tear Jerker: The Twins are reunited with their mother. Being an upbeat case, it doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
- The movie actually has a fair few of them, as much like Junior both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito apparently decided to act the shit out of the movie despite its silly premise.
Woolseyism: The Latin American translation changes Webster's reason to kill people from "nobody has ever seen my face" to "nadie nunca me ha tomado el pelo" (roughly translated, "nobody has ever jerked me around"), making his reason to kill his own employers and try to kill Julius and Vincent from Leave No Witnesses to having a Berserk Button to people making a fool out of him (still Stupid Evil, but at least makes more sense), and making more sense that he left the loan sharks alive.

YMMV / Twins (1988)

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