25 years later, we still have that can’t-eat, can’t-sleep, reach-for-the-stars, over- the-fence, World Series kind of thing for the OTCU: Olsen Twins Cinematic Universe.
Three years before The Parent Trap remake starring Lindsay Lohan came out, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had their own story of twins separated at birth randomly meeting and deciding to swap places: It Takes Two.
Released on Nov. 17 1995, the family-friendly comedy was the Full House breakout stars’ first major film to be released by their production company, Dualstar Entertainment. Just nine years old when it came out, Mary-Kate played orphaned tomboy Amanda who is a favorite of caretaker Diane (Kirstie Alley), while Ashley took on the part of Alyssa, a sad little rich girl desperate to stop her father (oh, hi Steve Guttenberg!) from marrying his gold-digger girlfriend. How they got separated at birth is, inexplicably and hilariously, never explained!
While it made just $19 million at the box office and earned a paltry eight percent approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, It Takes Two helped jump-start the Olsen twins’ movie empire. And for that, we, children raised on those straight-to-DVD cinematic masterpieces, are forever grateful.
But is It Takes Two Mary-Kate and Ashley’s best movie ever?
