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Top 10 Mistaken Identity Films


16 April 2010

From the realisation that your wife is trying to kill you, to being mistaken for a team of space rangers when actually you’re just a cast of low budget television actors, mistaken identity is a plot favoured by Hollywood for years. It’s resulted in some of the funniest and often dramatic moments in cinema history. To celebrate the release of Date Night, in cinemas 21st April, we’re going to take a look at some of the best cases of mistaken identity at the movies.

 

DATE NIGHT IS RELEASED IN UK CINEMAS ON APRIL 21ST

10. Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Starring real life couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith sees them take on the roles of husband and wife both living complete lies, pretending to work every day jobs. In reality they are both trained assassins working for rival agencies. They eventually find out the truth when they are hired to kill each other.

9. Galaxy Quest

‘Galaxy Quest’, a popular science fiction show returns to cult status, after Eighteen years of being cancelled and the cast (including Sigourney Weaver , Sam Rockwell and Tim Allen) come back to make appearances at sci-fi conventions and store openings . A group of aliens known as Thermians who happen to arrive on Earth have mistaken the show for real life and, transport the cast into space to save them from genocide. It’s a lighthearted comedy with a big case of mistaken identity.

8. Face/Off

Starring Hollywood heavyweights Nicholas Cage and John Travolta, Sean Archer (Travolta) is a government agent whose son was killed in a terrorist act by Castor Troy (Cage). Sean takes on the face of Troy in a plot to bring down the terrorist group. However, Troy who was believed dead but was actually in a coma, and wakes up to find his identity has been taken. So to take his revenge decides to do the same and does the same.

7. North by Northwest

Directed by the master of drama and suspense, Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest is considered one of the greatest film’s of all time. New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill played by Carrie Grant, is kidnapped by a gang of spies, who believe him to be CIA agent George Kaplan. Thornhill escapes, but must find the real George Kaplan in order to clear himself of the charges he is accused of.

6. The Infidel

Starring British comedian Omid Djalili and featuring Little Britain star Matt Lucas, The Infidel is the story of a big identity crisis. Mahmud Nasir is a successful business owner and East End Muslim who discovers that he's adopted - and Jewish. To build back an identity and find his place in society he looks to Lenny a drunken Jewish taxi driver who agrees to give him lessons in how to really be Jewish.

5. The Big Lebowski

In this Cohen brother’s classic, Jeff Bridges plays Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski a complete slacker living in L.A. One day some thugs break into his house and pee on his favourite rug. The gangsters have him confused with Jeffrey Lebowski, a millionaire, whose wife owes the thug’s boss some money.  In order to get some revenge for the damage done to his favourite rug the Dude get’s even more involved in this case of mistaken identity.

4. The Wrong Man

Another Hitchcock classic, this 1956 film tells the true story of Manny Balestrero, a musician who is unjustly accused of armed robbery. Manny protests his innocence but acts thoroughly guilty, leading both policemen and witnesses to consider him the thief. This result in the trial going horribly wrong for Manny but even worse for his poor wife Rose

3. Monty Python’s Life of Brian

In Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Brian was born next to Jesus and is continuingly mistaken for him throughout his life. He ends up being followed by a particular group or are convinced he’s the messiah and Brian cannot convince them otherwise. Perhaps the most famous case of mistaken identity in film and remembered for the line, “He’s not the messiah he’s a very naughty boy”.

 

2. The Great Dictator

Charlie Chaplin has a dual role in this film, his first with dialogue.
He plays a sweet-natured Jewish barber and a murderous Hitler-type dictator with such satirical impact that it counterbalanced the oratory of Adolf Hitler.
Particularly delectable comic scenes are Hynkel's balletic "pas de deux" with a globe, and a cream cake fight between Hynkel and Napoloni, the dictator of Bacteria.

1. Date Night

Claire and Phil Foster (Fey and Carell) are a typical suburban couple whose lives – including their weekly date night of dinner and a movie – have become routine. To reignite the marital spark, they visit a trendy Manhattan bistro where a case of mistaken identity turns their evening into the ultimate date night-gone-awry.  But as Claire and Phil take their unexpected walk on the wild side, they begin to remember what made them so special together.