Director Harold (““Groundhog Day’’) Ramis has hold of a bold farcical conceit; he has special-effects wiz Richard Edlund masterminding the seamless multiplication of his star. And in Keaton he has a hotshot chameleon who breezily creates four distinct personalities out of one character. So why is this movie only half as fun as it ought to be? Why so many tired sitcom situations, like hapless Dad making a mess in the kitchen while his kids run amok? Ramis and four writers (Chris Miller, Mary Hale, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel) mistake banality for universality. We get it, guys: this is a metaphor for Real Life. Now grab this zany premise and run with it. But Ramis takes a walk on the mild side. Like its hero, whose big notion of freedom is to go bungee-jumping, this off-and-on comedy rarely rises to its madcap occasion.
