New York Minute

Identical twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, play identical twins, Roxy and Jane Ryan in New York Minute, a comedy that drops the famous twosome into the Big Apple for a PG-rated romp.

Physically, 17-year-old Jane and Roxy are a perfect match, but they are opposites in every other way. Prim and proper Jane is the smart one who – especially since the girls’ mother died – has taken it upon herself to be the “grownup” female in the household. Roxy is a tearaway rock rebel who skips school whenever possible – so much so that a tenacious truant officer, Max Lomax (teen movies’ favourite adult, Eugene Levy) has been on her trail for years. Max, however, takes his role a little too seriously and acts more like Dirty Harry than the local kid catcher.

Jane and Roxy find themselves travelling together on the same day that both have big plans in the big city; Jane is giving a speech that she hopes will win her an Oxford scholarship and Roxy – who’s a drummer in a band – intends to go to a video shoot and hand out a demo tape.

When a computer chip is dropped into Roxy’s bag, it’s the beginning of an unexpected adventure in which the sisters reluctantly have to unite to fend off some very shifty customers. The computer chip is vital to the operation of a black market music/video pirating outfit and the girls soon find themselves pursued by a suspicious chauffeur called Bennie Bang (Andy Richter) who has an even more suspicious accent!

The cross-town chase takes them to just about every part of Manhattan – including the sewers – and even onto the ledge of a skyscraper in pursuit of a dog that has just made a meal of the vital computer chip. While chaos reigns, both girls still have time to find romance; Roxy falls for a guy called Trey (Jared Padalecki), the son of a senator (Andrea Martin) who is the owner of the chip-eating pooch, and Jane (literally) keeps running into a good-looking bike messenger called Jim (Riley Smith).

When the neat and methodical Jane’s invaluable day-planner falls into Bennie’s hands, she loses her speech and, it seems, her big opportunity. The situation looks gloomy – especially when the two sisters’ differences send them on their separate ways. But even as the forces of law and disorder close in on them, things have a way of working out.

Synopsis

Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen take their sister act to the next level with the delightful comedy New York Minute. Top student Jane Ryan (Ashley) heads to Manhattan for a college scholarship competition. Her rebellious twin Roxy Ryan (Mary-Kate) goes along to crash a video shoot. But anything can happen and does in a romp involving a pursuing truant officer (Eugene Levy) a smuggler (Andy Richter) hunkalacious guys (Jared Padalecki Riley Smith) and the girls realization that when the chips are down a sister can be the best friend of all.