"Repli-Kate" is a latter-day version of "Weird Science", done in the style of the "gross-out" comedies of the late nineties and early noughties. Whereas the male protagonists of "Weird Science" were teenage schoolboys, "Repli-Kate" is set on the campus of an American university and the main characters are all twenty-somethings. Max Fleming is a brilliant young research scientist working on cloning research- so brilliant that he has invented a machine capable of cloning any living creature, although his unpleasant superior, Dr. Jonas, is trying to steal the credit.
Despite his brilliance, however, Max does not seem to have much luck when it comes to romance. He thinks his luck has changed when he meets Kate Carson, a beautiful journalist who is writing a magazine article on his work, but it turns out that Kate already has a boyfriend, a rock star named Derek. And then his luck does change. An accident with his machine leads to Kate being cloned. The clone, whom Max names Repli-Kate, is fully adult and identical in appearance to the original Kate, but having only recently been called into existence is completely ignorant of the ways of the world. Max and his British friend and colleague Henry decide to educate her.
It has been said that every man's ideal woman is himself incarnated in the body of a beautiful girl, and this is the sort of woman that Max and Henry try to turn Repli-Kate into. Both men, especially Henry, are members of what has been called the "New Lad Culture" of the noughties, a culture embodied in magazines like "FHM" and "Maxim" and revolving around sport, violent action movies, heavy drinking, fast cars and sex uncomplicated by any emotional baggage. Repli-Kate learns her lessons well. By the time Max and Henry have finished with her she is a foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, vulgar, bisexual good-time girl.
No doubt the film provided much amusement to the New Lads of 2002, but if those New Lads had stopped to think about it, they would have realised that much of the comedy is actually aimed at them and their way of life. Max (whose commitment to the New Lad cause was never wholehearted) decides that Repli-Kate is not the sort of girl he wants and that he would much rather have the gentle and feminine original Kate (who is now back on the market, having split up with the womanising Derek). He realises that if he is repelled by laddish bad behaviour in a woman, then women must find it repellent in a man, and that if he wants to be Kate's boyfriend he had better change his ways. Henry, admittedly, remains a thoroughgoing New Lad to the end, but then the scriptwriters wanted a happy ending for Repli-Kate as well, and she and Henry deserve one another. (An intriguing reversal of all those comedies in which British characters are portrayed as more genteel and refined than their brash, folksy American equivalents).
The lovely Ali Landry certainly had the looks of a Hollywood goddess, but she never really became an A-lister. This was one of her few leading roles in a feature film. Nevertheless, she succeeds well here in her double role as the sweet-young-thing Kate and her ridiculously over-the-top New Lass alter ago.
Some "gross-out" comedies could be just gross- "The Sweetest Thing", also from 2002, and "The Heartbreak Kid" from 2007 struck me as particularly nasty examples- but "Repli-Kate" is considerably better than those two dismal examples. Admittedly, it contains its fair share of jokes about sex and bodily functions, and I would not recommend it to anyone of a puritanical disposition. It does, however, contain some genuinely funny moments, and there actually is some point to it, with its satirical barbs aimed not just at boorish New Laddism but also at scientists like the arrogant, egotistical Jonas who cares more for advancing his own reputation than he does for advancing human knowledge and who cares nothing at all for ethical considerations. (Max puts his finger on one of the main ethical objections to human cloning, namely that a real-life Repli-Kate would be totally unable to live a normal life away from the media spotlight). What starts off as a bog-standard smutty comedy ends up as a vehicle for some surprisingly sharp social comment. 6/10
Despite his brilliance, however, Max does not seem to have much luck when it comes to romance. He thinks his luck has changed when he meets Kate Carson, a beautiful journalist who is writing a magazine article on his work, but it turns out that Kate already has a boyfriend, a rock star named Derek. And then his luck does change. An accident with his machine leads to Kate being cloned. The clone, whom Max names Repli-Kate, is fully adult and identical in appearance to the original Kate, but having only recently been called into existence is completely ignorant of the ways of the world. Max and his British friend and colleague Henry decide to educate her.
It has been said that every man's ideal woman is himself incarnated in the body of a beautiful girl, and this is the sort of woman that Max and Henry try to turn Repli-Kate into. Both men, especially Henry, are members of what has been called the "New Lad Culture" of the noughties, a culture embodied in magazines like "FHM" and "Maxim" and revolving around sport, violent action movies, heavy drinking, fast cars and sex uncomplicated by any emotional baggage. Repli-Kate learns her lessons well. By the time Max and Henry have finished with her she is a foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, vulgar, bisexual good-time girl.
No doubt the film provided much amusement to the New Lads of 2002, but if those New Lads had stopped to think about it, they would have realised that much of the comedy is actually aimed at them and their way of life. Max (whose commitment to the New Lad cause was never wholehearted) decides that Repli-Kate is not the sort of girl he wants and that he would much rather have the gentle and feminine original Kate (who is now back on the market, having split up with the womanising Derek). He realises that if he is repelled by laddish bad behaviour in a woman, then women must find it repellent in a man, and that if he wants to be Kate's boyfriend he had better change his ways. Henry, admittedly, remains a thoroughgoing New Lad to the end, but then the scriptwriters wanted a happy ending for Repli-Kate as well, and she and Henry deserve one another. (An intriguing reversal of all those comedies in which British characters are portrayed as more genteel and refined than their brash, folksy American equivalents).
The lovely Ali Landry certainly had the looks of a Hollywood goddess, but she never really became an A-lister. This was one of her few leading roles in a feature film. Nevertheless, she succeeds well here in her double role as the sweet-young-thing Kate and her ridiculously over-the-top New Lass alter ago.
Some "gross-out" comedies could be just gross- "The Sweetest Thing", also from 2002, and "The Heartbreak Kid" from 2007 struck me as particularly nasty examples- but "Repli-Kate" is considerably better than those two dismal examples. Admittedly, it contains its fair share of jokes about sex and bodily functions, and I would not recommend it to anyone of a puritanical disposition. It does, however, contain some genuinely funny moments, and there actually is some point to it, with its satirical barbs aimed not just at boorish New Laddism but also at scientists like the arrogant, egotistical Jonas who cares more for advancing his own reputation than he does for advancing human knowledge and who cares nothing at all for ethical considerations. (Max puts his finger on one of the main ethical objections to human cloning, namely that a real-life Repli-Kate would be totally unable to live a normal life away from the media spotlight). What starts off as a bog-standard smutty comedy ends up as a vehicle for some surprisingly sharp social comment. 6/10