New York Minute (film)

New York Minute
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dennie Gordon
Screenplay by	Emily Fox Adam Cooper Bill Collage
Story by	Emily Fox
Produced by	Denise Di Novi Robert Thorne Ashley Olsen Mary-Kate Olsen
Starring	Mary-Kate Olsen Ashley Olsen Andy Richter Jared Padalecki Riley Smith Andrea Martin Eugene Levy
Cinematography	Greg Gardiner
Edited by	Michael Jablow
Music by	George S. Clinton
Production companies	Dualstar Productions Di Novi Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	May 7, 2004 (2004-05-07) (United States)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$23.4 million

New York Minute is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Dennie Gordon and starring Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, and Eugene Levy, with Andy Richter, Jared Padalecki, Riley Smith, Andrea Martin, and Bob Saget in supporting roles. In the film, Mary-Kate and Ashley portray twins with opposing personalities who have a series of adventures around New York City. New York Minute reunited Mary-Kate and Ashley with Saget since they all starred together on the television series Full House (1987–1995).

The film was released on May 7, 2004, by Warner Bros. Pictures, marking the Olsen twins' second theatrical film release after It Takes Two (1995). It received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb. Consequently, it was the last film featuring both Olsens to date, as well as the last film produced by the twins' Dualstar Entertainment before it went into dormancy.

Plot[]

Seventeen-year-old twin sisters Jane, an uptight overachiever, and Roxy Ryan, a rebellious, aspiring rock star, are polar opposites and never see eye to eye after their mother’s death. They live with their widower father in Syosset, a suburban Long Island town. The two journey into New York City so Jane can deliver a speech for a prestigious college scholarship and Roxy can hand her band's demo tape to Simple Plan, who are in town to shoot a music video.

Jane and Roxy board the train into New York but are thrown off after Roxy is found without a ticket. Jane flirts with Jim, and a chip device is mistakenly planted in Roxy's bag. Bennie Bang, the man behind the device, offers Roxy a limousine ride, and she accepts, dragging Jane along. He locks them inside, but they escape through the sunroof into the subway. Meanwhile, Max Lomax, an overzealous truant officer, is on the hunt for Roxy.

Jane realizes she has left her day planner in the limo, which has money and the prompt cards for her speech. She and Roxy break into an upscale hotel room to freshen up, where they receive a phone call from Bennie who offers to exchange the chip for the day planner. They meet Trey, the son of a powerful senator staying at the hotel, and his dog, Reinaldo, who swallows the chip.

Roxy heads to the Simple Plan video shoot, Max on her tail, while Jane meets Bennie for the exchange. When he learns the dog has swallowed the chip, Max tries to attack Jane, goes to find Roxy, and kidnaps Trey. Jane, Roxy, and Reinaldo end up in the underground sewer, with Jane's speech due to begin in less than two hours.

The girls make their way to a Harlem beauty salon, where they receive makeovers, although Max hunts them down and they escape in a cab and later argue. Jane feels that Roxy has never been there for her and never takes life seriously, leaving Jane in charge after their mother's death. Conversely, Roxy believes Jane does not need to take control of everything and feels she is being pushed away.

Jane goes to meet Bennie, who takes her to his mother, the head of a DVD and CD pirating operation. Roxy finds Bennie's limo, retrieves Jane's day planner, and frees Trey, who is locked in the trunk. They both rush to the building where Jane will give her speech. When they arrive, Roxy poses as Jane so she can give the speech, but drops the prompt cards and has to ad lib. Jane turns up and explains why she was not there. Suddenly, Max and Bennie arrive, Bennie's illegal doings are exposed, and he is arrested by Max.

As Jane leaves with Roxy, one of the judges catches up to Jane after finding her prompt cards and gives her a college scholarship to Oxford, because she "didn't just want to win, she absolutely refused to fail." Months later, Roxy is in the studio recording with the band, watched by Jane, Trey, Jim, and even Max (now an official police officer) as they celebrate all together.

Cast[]

Reception[]

New York Minute was not a critical success. Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave the film a "two thumbs down" on the television show Ebert & Roeper; in selecting the film as one of the worst of 2004, Ebert remarked that the film "not only should have gone straight to video but should have gone straight through video and kept on going to the end of the universe and never looked back." He added: "New York Minute was obviously generated entirely as a vehicle for the Olsen twins, but what kind of a vehicle has no idea where to go, or what to do when it gets there? This movie should have put on the brakes."^[1] In his print review, he further commented:

The Olsen twins are not children any longer, yet not quite poised to become adults, and so they're given the props and costumes of 17-year-olds but carefully shielded from the reality. That any 17-year-old girl in America could take seriously the rock band that Roxy worships is beyond contemplation. It doesn't even look like a band to itself.^[2]

Aggregate movie review web site Rotten Tomatoes listed a critic score of 11%.

Box office[]

New York minute earned $5.96 million over its North American opening weekend in fourth place behind Van Helsing, Mean Girls, and Man on Fire, setting a new record low for a film playing in over 3,000 theatres.^[3] The film eventually grossed $14.07 million at the North American domestic box office and $7.22 million internationally.^[4]

Accolades[]

The film was nominated for a number of awards in 2004.

References[]

External links[]

• New York Minute at IMDb
• New York Minute at AllMovie
• New York Minute at Box Office Mojo
• New York Minute at Rotten Tomatoes