Wait, Rewind, Like Every Mary-Kate and Ashley Movie Is Just a Carbon Copy

Older Relative North Star

This is something I picked up on when it comes to the the earliest Mary-Kate and Ashley films: occaisionally there's some sort of geriartic kinfolk they're trying to connect with. I mean, To Grandmother's House We Go is essentially all about that quest, while the girls get their Passport to Paris to reconvene with their grandpa. How the West Was Fun has some element of this, with the girls inheriting a ranch (or something?) because of their late mom's godmother sending an invite. And even all that witchy madness in Double, Double, Toil and Trouble comes from wicked Aunt Agatha and good Aunt Sophia (both Glenn Close ICYMI).

As Seen In: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, To Grandmother's House We Go, How the West Was Fun, Passport to Paris

Complete Opposites

Here's a wild premise: two girls are completely identical in looks, but couldn't be more different in personality. It Takes Two really kicked off this trend, although it stands out by being not about twins and instead more of a Prince and the Pauper thing. Beyond that, Mary-Kate was routinely cast as the free spirit tomboy and Ashley as the control freak girly girl…except when they swapped roles as two different people who look exactly the same tend to do. Layers!

As Seen In: It Takes Two, Switching Goals, The Challenge, New York Minute

Exotic Locale

The girls are real jet setters, making trips to Australia, Italy, England, France, the Bahamas, Mexico and…Salt Lake City? It's unclear if the final destination in the road trip movie Getting There ("Sweet 16 and licensed to drive!") should even count, although since they were headed to the 2002 Olympics that makes it a little bit ritzier. Also not sure if I'd count New York City since it's the rat-infested metropolis I lovingly call home, but since MK & A are Long Island suburbanites in New York Minute, we'll tack it on for kicks.

As Seen In: Passport to Paris, Our Lips Are Sealed, Winning London, Holiday in the Sun, Getting There, When in Rome, The Challenge New York Minute

Obscure Traveling Prompt

Maybe this isn't a direct trope, but I just want to point out that there's a lot of contrived catalysts that set the twins on their adventures. Like, sometimes it's as simple as a family vacation i.e. Holiday in the Sun. But more often, it's something insane like the twins are sent to stay with their estranged American Ambassador grandpa in Paris.

Or they're part of the Model UN like in Winning London. Or sent on a fashion internship in When in Rome. Or how they're estranged siblings who live on opposite coasts, but randomly reunite when they both get selected for a game show competition set in Mexico in The Challenge.

OH AND when they were in the witness protection program in Our Lips Are Sealed and that got them a free ticket to everywhere. These two, I swear.

As Seen In: Passport to Paris, Our Lips Are Sealed, Winning London, When in Rome, The Challenge

Dead Parents

That sounds like a grim AF thing to put into a sometimes musical children's series, but look into your heart, you know it to be true. In classic Disney-esque fashion, the twins usually have a dead mother (or occasionally father) as a footnote, sparking some cute matchmaking plotlines in films like Parent Trap rip-off and It Takes Two rip-off Billboard Dad. If you want an honorary mention, their short-lived TV series Two of a Kind gets in on this trope, too.

Then, there was a shift. See, the later Mary-Kate and Ashley projects, parents were scrapped all together so the girls could have wild international adventures. It resurfaces again in New York Minute, which in so many ways is just an amalgam of the Olsens' best-loved clichés.

As Seen In: Two Grandmother's House We Go, It Takes Two, Billboard Dad, How the West Was Fun

Double Boyfriends

Look, I understand that every other female-led movie has to have a forced romantic subplot. That's just cinema, no tropes about it. However, the Mary-Kate and Ashley flicks take this idea to a weird place. Like, how realistic is it that you and your twin sister will both fall in love with different gorgeous guys on the same madcap day in a foreign country? Idk, man. Idk.

Informally, we'll say Passport to Paris probably kicked off this trend, with the twins sharing their first(?) on-screen kiss with their respective love interests. By the time the girls released their last straight-to-video effort, they accrued enough on-screen boyfriends to compete for their love in a meta last minute moment in The Challenge.

As Seen In: Passport to Paris, Switching Goals, Holiday in the Sun, Winning London, When in Rome, Our Lips Are Sealed, The Challenge, New York Minute

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