Nancy Meyers had never directed a feature before The Parent Trap. She cast an 11-year-old named Lindsay Lohan in a dual role, put her on screen opposite Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson, and built a 128-minute comedy around a plot that only works if the audience believes two girls are the same person. The film premiered in Los Angeles on July 20, 1998, and Walt Disney Pictures released it in the United States nine days later. It holds a 6.3/10.
Trailer, via Disney UK.
Two Girls in a Fencing Match
The Parent Trap is a remake of the 1961 film of the same name and an adaptation of Erich Kästner’s 1949 novel Lisa and Lottie. Meyers wrote the screenplay with Charles Shyer, who produced, and David Swift, who wrote and directed the 1961 version, shares credit.
The plot turns on a coincidence. Hallie Parker grows up on her father’s vineyard in Napa. Annie James grows up in London with their mother, a wedding gown designer. Neither knows the other exists. Then both are sent to the same summer camp in Maine, where they meet at the end of a fencing match and see that they look identical.
The Isolation Cabin
A rivalry starts over a poker match and grows into a prank war. The counselors send both girls to the isolation cabin. There they learn they share a birthday, and each has half of a torn wedding photo. They realize they are twins and plan to switch places to force their parents back together.
The training sequence is the film’s best idea. Each girl teaches the other to be her. Annie cuts her hair and pierces her ears. The mechanics of the swap are silly and precise, and Lohan sells both halves of it.
Lindsay Lohan’s First Role
Lohan had never made a film. More than 1,500 young actresses submitted audition tapes, and Meyers said she wanted “a little Diane Keaton.” Mara Wilson, Scarlett Johansson, Michelle Trachtenberg and Jena Malone were considered or auditioned. Malone turned the roles down; Wilson was judged too young.
“a little Diane Keaton”
Erin Mackey served as Lohan’s double and plays both twins in the scenes where they appear together. The effects work required planning during filming and compositing afterward, and it holds up. The seams show less than the plot does.
Meredith Blake and the Wedding
Annie reaches California and finds Nick engaged to Meredith Blake, a 26-year-old publicist from San Francisco who wants his money. Elaine Hendrix plays her with a straight face and no apology, and the film is better for it. Lisa Ann Walter’s Chessy figures out the swap and keeps quiet. Simon Kunz plays Martin, the James family butler, who falls for Chessy.
Quaid and Richardson have the harder job. They play two people who divorced and stayed apart for nearly 12 years, and the script asks them to drift back together in a few scenes. Richardson is warm and guarded. Quaid is easy and a little vague. The film never explains the divorce, which is fine, but it also never makes the reunion feel earned.
A Royal Premiere in London
The London premiere came on November 8, 1998, as a Royal Film Performance attended by Queen Elizabeth II. Buena Vista Pictures distributed. Alan Silvestri composed the score, Dean Cundey shot it, and Stephen A. Rotter edited. Principal photography ran from July to December 1997 in California and London.
What the Remake Keeps
The Parent Trap is a family romantic comedy with a tagline that promises “Twice the Fun, Double the Trouble.” It delivers the first half. The camp scenes are quick and funny, and the switch gives Lohan a real part instead of a cute one. The second half sags under the adult romance, which the film needs and never quite believes in.
Our Verdict
The Parent Trap is worth watching for Lohan, who carries a dual role in her first film without straining, and for the craft of the doubling itself. Meyers’ direction is clean and unfussy. The weaknesses are structural: a premise that depends on coincidence, parents whose history is a blank, and a fiancée who exists to be defeated.
This is a 1998 children’s film that treats its audience as capable of following a con. That is the part worth respecting. The reunion is the part that never lands.
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