New York Minute

Reviewed by REBECCA BARRY

Herald rating * *

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen shared acting duties on the saccharine sitcom Full House, but their latest disposable product casts them as opposites going through a wild, Britney Spears-style coming-of-age.

Jane (Ashley) is an anally retentive academic heading to New York to give an important speech; Roxy (Mary-Kate) is a delinquent drummer who wants to wag school to see her favourite band.

They can't stand each other, but end up getting into entertaining but implausible trouble together in the Big Apple: becoming embroiled in a blackmarket scam, escaping from a zealous truancy officer (played by American Pie/Mighty Wind funnyman Eugene Levy) and consistently bumping into two cute boys.

The film does have its comic moments but they're sandwiched - mind the pun - between cringe-inducing scenes, particularly when the anorexic one stocks up on junk food; when Roxy's pet snake terrorises Jane while she's in the shower; and when they discover they share common moral ground, a sickeningly Full House epiphany that occurs after their day from hell.

The producers know what they're doing, though. Like Miss Spears, the Olsen Twins are sexualised good girls, the perfect tween pin-ups for a generation trying to be both.

Cast: Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Andy Richter, Eugene Levy

Director: Dennie Gordon

Rating: PG

Running time: 91 minutes

Screening: Village Cinemas