Alright, settle in, pop that tape in the VCR (mind the tracking!), because we're diving deep into a real head-scratcher from the shelves of yesteryear: 1983's Two of a Kind. If you were anywhere near a cinema or video store back then, you remember the buzz. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, together again! Five years after Grease set the world on fire, the dynamic duo was back. The posters promised magic, romance... maybe even another hit soundtrack? What we got was... well, something else entirely. Something uniquely, bafflingly 80s.
### Divine Intervention or Desperate Measures?
The premise alone is the kind of high-concept gamble that feels like it could only have been greenlit in the early 80s after a very long lunch. Picture this: God (voiced, according to many sources though uncredited, by none other than Gene Hackman – a fantastic bit of trivia!) is fed up with humanity's nonsense and is ready to unleash another flood. Four plucky angels – played with varying degrees of charm by Charles Durning, Beatrice Straight, Scatman Crothers, and Castulo Guerra – convince the big guy to give humankind one last chance. The catch? They have to find two ordinary bad people and see if they can fall in love and redeem themselves, thus proving humanity's worth. If they fail, it's worldwide waterslide time. No pressure, right?
Our designated test subjects are Zack Melon (John Travolta), a perpetually unlucky inventor deep in debt to loan sharks, and Debbie Wylder (Olivia Newton-John), a struggling actress forced into bank telling who decides to make a very unauthorized withdrawal from said bank. It’s a meet-cute engineered by celestial beings, playing out against a backdrop of mob threats and heavenly deadlines.
### Grease Lightning Strikes... Differently
Let's be honest, the shadow of Grease loomed large over Two of a Kind. Everyone wanted Danny and Sandy, Part II. What writer-director John Herzfeld (making his feature debut here, before later giving us films like 15 Minutes) delivered was a jarring mix of genres: screwball comedy, fantasy, romance, and even a touch of crime thriller. It never quite gels. Travolta, sporting some truly era-specific feathered hair, tries his best as the flustered inventor, leaning into the physical comedy. Newton-John, attempting to shed her squeaky-clean image, plays Debbie with a kind of wide-eyed desperation that sometimes works and sometimes feels forced. Their chemistry, so electric in Grease, feels… muted here. It's there in flashes, but the script often leaves them adrift in contrived situations.
It’s interesting to note that the film was reportedly rushed into production to capitalize on the stars' reunion appeal. Sometimes you can feel that haste on screen – the plot lurches, the tone wobbles, and character motivations can seem flimsy. It makes you wonder what might have been with more development time.
### Angels in the Outfield (of Weirdness)
Where the film occasionally finds its footing is with the divine peanut gallery. Charles Durning, who seemed to specialize in playing gruff-but-lovable authority figures (think Tootsie or The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), is genuinely enjoyable as the lead angel trying to herd his celestial colleagues and manipulate earthly events. Watching him fret and fume is arguably more entertaining than the central romance at times. And seeing the legendary Scatman Crothers (just a few years after his iconic role in The Shining) adds a touch of class, even if his role is small.
The fantasy elements feel charmingly dated now. The "special effects" are minimal, mostly relying on angelic whispers and convenient coincidences. There’s no CGI spectacle here, just good old-fashioned storytelling contrivances, which, viewed through a nostalgic lens, has a certain low-tech appeal. Remember when a disembodied voice and a few lucky breaks were enough to signify divine intervention?
### Box Office Blues and Razzie Noms
Upon release, Two of a Kind was met with near-universal critical disdain and bombed at the box office, reportedly making back less than its hefty (for the time) budget. It snagged multiple Razzie Award nominations, including Worst Actor, Worst Actress, and Worst Director. Ouch. Audiences hoping for Grease 2: Electric Boogaloo (well, a good version) were left scratching their heads.
Yet... there's something about this film that sticks with you, isn't there? Maybe it's the sheer audacity of the premise. Perhaps it's seeing two mega-stars trying gamely to make sense of a script that feels like three different movies duct-taped together. I distinctly remember renting this one, drawn in by the cover art and the promise of that star pairing, and being utterly bewildered but strangely compelled. It wasn't good, exactly, but it was certainly memorable. The soundtrack, by the way, did achieve some success, particularly Olivia's "Twist of Fate," proving that her musical magic hadn't entirely deserted the project.
### The Verdict
Two of a Kind is a fascinating artifact. It's a misfire, absolutely. The tone is all over the place, the script is weak, and it utterly failed to recapture the magic of its leads' previous collaboration. But viewed today, through the warm, fuzzy glow of a metaphorical CRT screen, it has a certain goofy charm. It’s a time capsule of early 80s filmmaking ambition (and occasional overreach), star power deployed questionably, and a high concept that probably sounded better on paper.
Rating: 4/10
Why this score? It gets points for the sheer nostalgic curiosity factor of the Travolta/Newton-John reunion, Charles Durning's enjoyable performance, that surprisingly decent theme song ("Twist of Fate"), and its status as a truly bizarre piece of 80s cinematic history. The film itself is objectively weak, hampered by a muddled script and tonal inconsistency, preventing a higher score. It fails as a romance and as a comedy, but succeeds as a "Wait, they actually made this?" conversation starter.
Final Thought: It wasn't the reunion hit anyone wanted, but pulling this tape off the shelf is like finding a weird novelty record – you might not play it often, but you're oddly glad it exists as proof of a stranger time in Hollywood.