NEW YORK MINUTE

"I've got you now Ryan!"

Max Lomax

This is the most important day of Jane's (Ashley Olsen) life as she prepares to give a speech that could gain her a scholarship to Oxford University in England. It is also an important day for her twin sister Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen) as she has an access-all-areas pass for the video shoot of her favourite punk rock band Simple Plan. This is her opportunity to get her band noticed by giving their demo to Simple Plan's management team. All the pair has to do is negotiate New York City to get what they want but they'll have to do something they haven't done in a very long time, work together.

US teen sensations Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen make the jump from the small screen to the big screen but is that leap just a little to long? In this case yes.

There is no denying that the Olsen twins are a culture phenomenon as they have built an empire of clothes lines, make up, lunch boxes, DVDs, TV shows etc, etc, but New York Minute is just one step too far for the famous siblings. These are talented actresses with a certain amount of screen presence and charm but they really do need to find a much better vehicle than this to push them into movie stardom.

The problem is that the script is appalling. The twins go from one hapless situation to another, each more outrageous and far-fetched than the last. They find themselves on the run from the law, the state truant officer, the Chinese mob and a US senator after inadvertently getting their hands on a computer chip full of copied music, stealing a dog and skipping school. This is all played out with an element of farce that sees Mary-Kate and Ashley running around the more scenic parts of New York. Of course you can guess the ending as soon as the situation is spelled out for you and you just spend the rest of the time waiting for it to happen.

The cast do their best with script however. Mary-Kate and Ashley have been acting most of their lives and you can tell as they really do bounce off each other extremely well. It is almost effortless how the two girls interact and push the story along and it would be interesting to see if they could actually act if they ever got roles in separate movies. Eugene Levy is as good as ever as obsessed truant officer Max Lomax. Levy excels in these types of roles but you can't help but ask yourself why he choose to be in a movie like this. Riley Smith and Jared Padalecki are fine as Mary-Kate and Ashley's love interests but both of them look far too old for the twins (even though they are 18 now). The biggest shock is the appearance of Jack Osbourne in the movie. This will do nothing for his reputation in the slightest.

New York Minute is aimed squarely at 10-15 year-old girls but even they will find this movie hard going. With a lacklustre, unimaginative script and far too many cheesy messages riddled throughout it, there just isn't enough to like here, even for the most hardened Mary-Kate and Ashley fans.

Alternative endings, 'Making Of' featurette, Behind the scenes slide show, Bloopers & Theatrical trailer

The Lizzie McGuire Movie

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2004