New York Minute (2004)

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen play good girl/bad girl sisters who suddenly find themselves on a high-speed chase escaping crooks, attracting hunks, and wreaking havoc in this lightweight comedy set in the Big Apple. Ashley plays high school scholar Jane Ryan, an overachiever with her sights set on winning a college scholarship competition. Mary-Kate plays her sister, Roxy, a rebellious teen truant who would rather be a rock star than a student. Since their mother's death, the sisters' relationship has been strained. Now their worlds collide when a day in Manhattan forces Jane and Roxy to join forces, overcoming their differences to battle an international smuggling ring while trying to make it in time for Jane's competition. While the script is predictably bland, viewers will enjoy the comedic strengths of Eugene Levy (Serendipity, American Pie) as Roxy's ubiquitous truant officer. Though the twins manage some decent slapstick, their sensuality, sexual innuendo, and suggestive disrobing is disappointing. DVD bonus features include some hilarious bloopers and alternate endings. (Ages 10 and older) --Lynn Gibson Amazon.com

A great amd funny movie!

This movie is entertaining, interesting, comical, and the best movie I've seen this year! The fact is that I've grown up watching the twins since I was little is why I find them to be great role models of how sisters can be best friends and amazing actresses. Those who say they do not fit their roles because of their maturence in the physical appearance is quite absurd, just because when they get older and they are 40 looking 30 and you're 20 looking 30 doesn't mean that they should be criticized for your jealousy. They decided to go to college which demonstrates that they aren't dumb enough to think fame will last forever. They have a million dollar company... I rebut the argument about their appearance made by those who are jealous. The movie has a great music and is the movie I'd recommend anyone. July 9, 2008

Why am I watching this?

I really have no idea why I actually sat through this movie. I knew from the onset that it was no award-winning show or had anything of substance. The trailer pretty much gave away how cheesy this was. And the entire premise was absurd. But watch it I did. The best thing I can say about that experience is that I can write a truthful review.
Okay, the premise of the movie is pretty standard: twin A (Jane) is the goody-too-shoes, does well in school, and is trying out for a scholarship to Oxford University. Twin B (Roxy) is rebellious, always skipping school, and a punk rocker. (Dad is non-existent and/or oblivious.) As Roxy is taking Jane to New York City for Jane's big speech to win the Scholarship (which is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this), a data chip with pirated music is placed in Roxy's bag. Fake Chinese guy then tries to take it back. All the while, Roxy is trying to evade the truant officer that has been tracking her since forever. The girls run around New York in all sorts of dress or undress, meet two cute guys that become their boyfriends within the 1 hour and 30 minute run time (4 hours movie time), get to crash a hotel, and other absurd activities. And at the end, Jane and Roxy have a girl breakout because each feels overshadowed by the other.
As if this plot doesn't sound appealing enough, you get treated to other stupidities. Both bad guys (truant officer played by Eugene Levy and fake Chinese guy) are incredibly stupid and remind you of someone out of a bad Disney movie. The boyfriends are introduced so rapidly with no chemistry between them and their prospective girlfriends. As I watched each "boyfriend" get forced into a scene, I sunk lower in my seat. I didn't like the sexual connotations imbued in the movie (the girls racing around in their bathrobes, "bumping" into boys, and so forth). The ending is so hokey I wanted to groan (and wish someone would do movie magic in my life). And where is the Dad in all this? After a brief mention of him seeing his girls bodysurfing, he disappears, never to be seen again.
I will admit that there were three good aspects of this movie. The first was a humorous scene where fake Chinese guy calls the twins and demands the chip in exchange for Jane's date planner. The second is how the twins eventually realize that they love each other and need to spend more time with each other. And the last was a cameo appearance from another father...
Overall: don't make my mistake and think their is anything substantial/fun/entertaining in this movie. Just avoid. April 6, 2008

Bought movie for my granddaughter!

My granddaughter loves this movie! She loves anything that stars these two girls! Has to have it! December 21, 2007

great movie

After Jane (Ashley) and Roxy's (Mary-Kate) mother dies, they drift apart. Jane is a perfectionist focusing on her future and Roxy is a drummer in a band and could care less about school.

On the same day, they both need to go to NYC: Jane to make a very important speech for college and Roxy to attend a Simple Plan video shoot and give her CD to people who could make them famous.

Everything goes wrong: They get kicked off their train, they get a limo ride from a Chinese man who boot-legs movies and cds and is after them, they sneak into the senator's hotel room to get cleaned up and have to leave fast while they're in towels and bath-robes, a truancy officer is after Roxy, and of course: 2 cute boys they keep "bumping" into and begin dating at the end.

This movie is a crazy, fun, and enteraining film! Fun for the entire family to watch! July 16, 2006

Mary-Kate and Ashley fail. Again.

Think of everything that you would despise in a movie. Throw that all in to one, and you get New York Minute. In addition to an excruciatingly terrible plot line, 3rd grade acting, and horrific accents, you also get incessantly annoying 'actors' ripping an hour and a half of your life. An hour and a half that you can never get back, and that may end in some need for cleansing as a human being and the reassurance that, by the way, the world isn't completely full of morons.

Admittedly, I approached the film warily, and I didn't expect much, but I was hoping for a slightly enjoyable film at least, for I am easily pleased. But I was not even granted that relief, and so I sat through the film...hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe there would be a redeeming factor near the end.

There wasn't.
June 2, 2006

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