The film begins in New York City with an orphaned girl, Amanda Lemmon, playing baseball in the street with some other kids. However, her social worker, Diane, tells her to come inside the children’s center, which is kind of like an orphanage.

Later, Diane takes Amanda to a home to meet a couple that could eventually adopt her. But that displeases Amanda. She wonders why Diane doesn’t just simply adopt her. The answer is because of her low salary, being unmarried, and being a social worker.

The scene switches to a wealthy home, owned by a famous guy, Roger Callaway. A helicopter arrives, and his daughter, Alyssa, comes out. Vincenzo, the Callaway’s butler, takes her inside.

Roger greets her and tells her about a surprise. Alyssa thinks it’s a party for her to celebrate coming home from boarding school. But Roger tries to hide what it really is.

Not long after, Roger’s fiancé, Clarice, comes. He lost his wife right after Alyssa was born.

Alyssa is not happy with Clarice. In fact, she feels suspicious of her. But when Roger tells her that the two are going to get married, she faints out of shock and dissatisfaction.

Meanwhile, the bus to Camp Callaway is here. Diane convinces Amanda to board it. But she sulks and does not want to go. However, Diane successfully convinces her.

After settling into her cabin, Amanda gets pressured by some other kids to do a dare. They claim that the Callaway home is haunted. So, they bribe her to go there.

Feeling betrayed by her father, Alyssa decides to run away. Amanda, however, rings the doorbell. She gets mistaken as Alyssa and is brought inside.

Alyssa, on the other hand, gets mistaken as Amanda and ends up in the camp. Not long after, though, she runs into Amanda. The two are shocked to see that they look like each other. But they also learn about each other and what they want.

But what Alyssa wants is a kinder stepmother. Amanda thinks Diane would be a good fit. So, the girls decide to switch places, once again, and try to change Roger’s mind about Clarice.

While pretending to be Alyssa, Amanda ends up attending Roger and Clarice’s engagement party. She even wears a nice dress and her hair in a bun.

During the event, Clarice has her, thinking she’s Alyssa, play the piano for everyone. Lacking experience, though, Amanda hesitates. But she gets creative and randomly bangs each key.

That evening, Roger tells her that he is a bit disappointed in her performance. But he understands how she feels.

Meanwhile, at the camp, Alyssa is trying to be Amanda as best as possible. She even meets Diane and gets to know her as well as the other children there.

At some point, the girls are ready to take their plan to the next level. They go as each other on horses while with each other’s caregivers. Then they separate and meet up again. Amanda slings something that makes Diane’s horse spooked so that Roger could help her. It works, and the two begin to speak to each other.

Alyssa and Amanda continue to portray each other as Roger and Diane spend more time together. They hope that the two fall in love before Clarice returns from her trip within the week.

Clarice’s true colors begin to show while she’s out of town. Roger even learns that Alyssa spat gum into Clarice’s hair. She calls him while he’s with Diane. Diane leaves, making Roger feel guilty about using the phone while she was visiting.

However, the two come back when Alyssa and Amanda are at camp having lunch. They end up getting food on each other, causing the kids to start a food fight.

Shortly after, they jump into the lake and swim together. Unfortunately, Diane finds out that Roger is engaged. So, she leaves him.

Despite their caregivers’ breakup, though, Alyssa and Amanda are not giving up. But can they succeed with their goal?

This movie kept me engaged all the way through. Despite being a comedy, I didn’t laugh that much. But I did admire the concept of the story, where two twins try to get their parent to marry a kinder person.

One aspect that I found odd was how Roger never told Alyssa that she had a twin sister. I’m assuming that she and Amanda were separated at birth. Yet I think they had the right to know.

When Amanda finally introduced herself to Roger, he didn’t react that strongly or say something like, “Welcome back to the family.” I found that kind of disappointing.

That being said, those were minor flaws. This film had a lot of strengths, otherwise.

The character development was strong, as usual. Alyssa had a sweet relationship with her father, and Amanda had a good relationship with her social worker. Vincenzo played a major role in the film, too. Aside from being a butler, he also acted as another caregiver to Alyssa. He has been looking after her since she was a baby.

It was usually not that hard to tell Alyssa and Amanda apart from each other, even when they were together. They would often wear different clothes, or their hair would be styled differently. Another important fact is that this movie was Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen’s first theatrical film.

I also enjoyed disliking Clarice. Some of the kids at Camp Callaway had a lot of memorable traits, as well.

The pacing was quick for the most part. It makes the tale seem to go faster, even though it’s more than an hour and a half long.

Although there was very little humor, I do think the romance developing between Roger and Diane was strong and beautiful. And like with any good movie, this one had lots of twists and turns.

Overall, I enjoyed It Takes Two. It was a fun watch that can attract people of all ages.

I give this film 4.5 out of 5 stars.