Growing up in a ‘Minute’

New York Minute
PG
Starting tomorrow at area theaters
Two reels out of four

Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are the focal point of a billion-dollar empire that includes videos, CDs, fashion and more. Now that they are almost 18 (a milestone that is, disturbingly, being tracked all over the Internet), they are turning to the big screen — one of the few frontiers they have not conquered. The result is not as bad as you would expect.

The movie tells the tale of twins Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen) and Jane Ryan (Ashley Olsen), who are as different as twins can be. One is a button-down overachiever who makes breakfast for Dad (Dr. Drew Pinsky) and wants desperately to go to Oxford on a scholarship. The other is a rocker who plays by her own rules and wants desperately for her band to succeed.

When both girls have plans in Manhattan one day, things go horribly wrong and they are forced to spend the day together. As they learn to work together, they discover they might not be as different as they think.

There is a cynicism inherent in this movie that is somewhat unsettling. Despite the fact that neither girl is 18 (just kidding — I know they’re twins!), we see several shots of them with bare shoulders, coming out of the shower or in other states of undress. One wonders if this movie is targeted at the twins’ many teenybopper fans or their more unsavory Internet fan base.

That unfortunate miscalculation aside, New York Minute does have a certain amount of charm. Using the same formula that worked for The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, the Olsen twins get themselves in one mess after another as they try to get through the day in one piece. Plot developments come one after the other, moving the film along. The movie is basically a bunch of vignettes strung together, with a healthy dose of slapstick.

Maybe it’s not fair to judge movies on a curve, but let’s face facts: New York Minute is not meant to be anything more than a silly romp. Seen in that context, it works just fine.

It helps in flicks like this if the supporting players are up to par and, thankfully, talented comedy veterans are backing up the twins. Eugene Levy is Max Lomax, a truant officer who has been after Roxy for years. Andrea Martin plays a senator, Darrell Hammond is an unfortunate businessman on whom the girls repeatedly spill coffee and Andy Richter is a bad guy who thinks he’s Chinese. Richter is a gifted enough to wring some laughs out his character long after the gimmick gets old (which takes all of two minutes).

The Olsen twins do display some talent and they work very well with each other. In 10 years, it might be somewhat bizarre to see them still working together. Here, it works well enough to provide their hardcore fans with an entertaining film.

Recommended rental

Scary Movie 3
PG-13
Available Tuesday

Perhaps one of the most pleasant surprises of last year was the third installment of the Scary Movie franchise. The Wayans brothers are nowhere to be seen this time around, which might help matters. Although Marlon and Shawn Wayans wrote the screenplay — as they did for the first two movies — brother Keenen Ivory Wayans has left the director chair. His replacement is David Zucker of Airplane and Naked Gun fame. Scary Movie 3 has as many gags as the first two, but many of them actually work this time around. And there’s little of the Wayans’ trademark potty humor.