The Parent Trap (1998)
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Identical twins separated at birth by their parents' divorce must work together to reunite their family after meeting by chance at a summer camp.
The story
In 1986, American wine grower Nicholas "Nick" Parker and British wedding gown designer Elizabeth James fall in love and marry. Shortly after the birth of their identical twins, Annie and Hallie, the parents divorce and become estranged, with the girls being raised in different countries. Nearly 12 years later, the girls are sent to the same summer camp in Maine. Upon meeting at the end of a fencing match, they are shocked to discover they are identical twins. They begin a prank war and eventually bond, realizing they share a common goal: to reunite their parents and bring their family back together.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After discovering they are twins, Annie and Hallie hatch a plan to switch places and force their parents to reunite. They train each other to impersonate the other, and the sisters go home in each other's place at the end of summer camp. In London, Hallie meets her mother, while Annie meets her father in California. Annie discovers her father is engaged to a gold digger, while Hallie's mother is happy to have spent time with her other daughter. The twins arrange for their parents to meet at a San Francisco hotel. Despite the deception, the parents eventually realize the truth but decide to share custody. After a series of pranks on the gold digger, the father breaks off his engagement. The parents realize they are still in love and eventually remarry on the Queen Elizabeth 2 with the girls as their bridesmaids.
- First release year
- 1998
- Runtime (minutes)
- 128
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Nancy Meyers
- Writers
- David Swift · writer; Nancy Meyers · writer; Charles Shyer · writer
- Cast and characters
- Lindsay Lohan · Hallie Parker and Annie James; Dennis Quaid · Nicholas "Nick" Parker; Natasha Richardson · Elizabeth "Liz" or "Lizzie" James; Elaine Hendrix · Meredith Blake; Lisa Ann Walter · Chessy; Simon Kunz · Martin; Polly Holliday · Marva Kulp Sr.; Maggie Wheeler · Marva Kulp Jr.; Ronnie Stevens · Charles James; Joanna Barnes · Vicky Blake; J. Patrick McCormack · Les Blake
- Genres
- family; romantic comedy
- Themes
- family; identity; sisterhood
- Tone and mood
- lighthearted; romantic
- Setting
- Maine, London, and California during the late 1980s and 1990s.
- Premise and plot tags
- remake; twin swap; comedy
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 87% · scale: percentage · review count: 54; Metacritic · score: 63 · scale: 100 · review count: 19; CinemaScore · score: A · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Young Artist Award · Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress · 1999 · win
- Production trivia
- The film is a remake of a 1961 film of the same name.; The twins are named after the director's and producer's daughters.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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