Two of a Kind is a 1983 American romantic fantasy comedy film directed by John Herzfeld and starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. The film reunited Travolta and Newton-John who had appeared together in 1978's Grease. The original musical score was composed by Patrick Williams. Travolta plays a cash-strapped inventor while Newton-John plays the bank teller whom he attempts to rob. They must come to show compassion for one another in order to delay God's judgment upon the Earth. Despite being a critical and commercial failure, Two of a Kind yielded three popular singles for Newton-John and a Platinum certification for the soundtrack.
I expected the worst when I decided to watch Two of a Kind. I'm a huge fan of Grease and Olivia Newton-John so I thought even if it is dreadful, the soundtrack and Olivia may make it bearable. The film begins with four angels who have been in charge of Heaven for the last 25 years. God decides he is fed up with what he sees down on Earth and decides to start a fresh. The four angels persuade him to reconsider, reasoning that, if a typical Earth man can reform, it would prove that all mankind is capable of it.
Then comes in Zac (John Travolta), who decides to rob a bank served by Debbie, (Olivia Newton-John) who leaves her number on a bag supposedly filled with money which is empty, Debbie takes the money for herself and the two characters become infatuated.
With such a bizzare plot you'd think they'd have come up with something a little simpler to reunite the two leads, even an average romance comedy would've sufficed and probably been more successful than this. The film instead is plodding, 80s cheese - the cinematography of the film is ugly and it's generally a lifeless film to watch. The chemistry between the leads is virtually non-existent and a far-cry from Grease less than 10 years before this was filmed. There are also too many characters in the film we couldn't care less about. I can't imagine the disappointment of cinema-goers in 1983 when they sat down in a theatre to watch this. The ending is also laughably bad.
However, I didn't completely hate the film, it has a certain charm about it that I liked- the soundtrack is upbeat and fun although the energy didn't always match that of what was on-screen. It has that sticky-sweet 80s charm that always wins me over, no matter how bad the rest of the film is. I can't recommend the film completely, but it's nice to see the leads together again after Grease.
4/10
