New York Minute is a 2004 American teen comedy film starring Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen and Eugene Levy. It was directed by Dennie Gordon and released on May 7, 2004. In the film Mary-Kate and Ashley play twins with opposing personalities who have a series of misadventures around New York City. New York Minute reunited Mary-Kate and Ashley with their Full House co-star, Bob Saget. It is the Olsen twins' first theatrical film since the 1995 film It Takes Two and is the last film in which the two worked together, to date.

 

Plot

New York Minute follows 17 year old identical twin sisters Roxanne "Roxy" Ryan and Jane Ryan over the course of one day spent in New York. Uptight Jane (Ashley Olsen) has a speech scheduled, while less conventional Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen) hopes to get backstage at a video shoot and give her demo tape to Simple Plan, her favorite band. Jane and Roxy's plans go wrong when a mix-up lands them in the middle of a black market music piracy scheme. The girls are chased from Chinatown to Times Square to Harlem by assassins, politicians and a truancy officer (Eugene Levy). Romantic interest comes in the form of a Senator's son (Jared Padalecki) and a bike messenger (Riley Smith).

 

Cast

• Mary-Kate Olsen as Roxanne "Roxy" Ryan

• Ashley Olsen as Jane Ryan

• Eugene Levy as Maxamillion "Max" Lomax

• Andy Richter as Benajamin "Bennie" Bang

• Ernest Borgnine as himself

• Riley Smith as James "Jim", the bike messenger

• Jared Padalecki as Trey Lipton

• Drew Pinsky as Dr. Ryan

• Darrell Hammond as Hudson McGill

• Andrea Martin as Senator Anne Lipton

• Alannah Ong as Ma Bang

• Mary Bond Davis as Big Shirl

• Bob Saget as Danny Tanner

• Jack Osbourne as Justin

• Joey Klein as Truant at Pool

• Neil Crone as Officer Strauss

• Garen Boyajian as Manjhur

• Jonathan Wilson as Train Conductor

• Boyd Banks as Ticket Window Guy #1

• Silver Kim as Asian guy with chip

• Frank Welker as Reinaldo's vocal fffects

• Simple Plan as Themselves

• Naked Cowboy as Himself (uncredited)

 

Reception

New York Minute was neither a box office success nor a critical success. Roger Ebert & Richard Roeper gave the film a "two thumbs down" on the television show Ebert & Roeper. Aggregate movie review web site Rotten Tomatoes listed a critic score of 11% for the film, the consensus stating, Feels more like a calculated product designed to expand the Olsens' brand than an actual movie. Also, it contains ethnic stereotyping and sexual innuendo.

 

The film was nominated for two Razzie Awards: Worst Actress and Worst Screen Couple for the Olsen twins.

Despite the negative reception, some reviews were positive and the film was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Blush Scene.

 

Box office

The film's opening weekend at #2 behind Walt Disney Pictures' Home on the Range earned $5.96 million, the sixth lowest ever for any film playing at over 3,000 theatres. The film eventually went on to gross $14.07 million domestically and $7.22 million overseas.