Friday, April 1, 2011

REPLI-KATE (2002)

Graduate student, Max (James Roday), is bone tired. He’s been working 100 hour weeks for the last six months trying to perfect a cloning machine. The initial tests go well, but then, one sleepy evening, things get out of control when he accidentally clones a magazine reporter named Kate (Ali Landry). Normally, this is where somebody would call in the authorities, but Max and his buddy, Henry (Desmond Askew), aren’t the brightest or most ethical people around, so instead of caring for this new accidental human life, they instead teach this new “Kate” all the most important things in life, like: beer is good, flowers are bad and newspapers can be used as toilet paper. Classy.

REPLI-KATE is a funny film with many humorous moments (I thought the scene where Max took the new “Kate” to the department store to buy a “shitload of bras” was well-written and clever), but overall there was just something missing. I couldn't put my finger on it, but REPLI-KATE just doesn’t have that certain mysterious spark to it to make it into a genuinely funny comedy. Which sucks, because I wanted to like this film more than I did.

Not the greatest cloning comedy of all time, honestly it's only a 5 out of 10 film, but still worth checking out if you enjoy lesser-known comedies. Steady pace, weak direction, zero nudity (unless you count a lame two-second shot from like 50 feet away), good acting (especially by Landry in a dual role), early 2000’s fashions, a different Eugene Levy film (BEST IN SHOW) being advertised on a movie marquee, predictable script, mildly satisfying ending.

Would make a completely stupid and baffling double-feature with CONGO.