Top 10 movie twins

For all the clones, evil doppelgangers, time-travelled future versions and doubles from alternate realities that have appeared in movies over the years, appearances of actual twin siblings, identical or otherwise, are rarer than a Spielberg movie without daddy issues.

In fact, you may struggle to think of many more movie twins than those mentioned here, for this list represents a comprehensive assemblage of the most important twins to ever feature in a film. Not including porn, obviously.

10. Bob and Walt Tenor in Stuck On You



Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear portraying conjoined twins struggling to lead separate lives may seem like an unlikely sell for some, but the Farrelly Brothers stick to familiar territory here, using the concept as an endless source for tasteless gags and offensive conceits, throwing up the occasional hilarious moment, as well as a couple of surprisingly tender scenes.

This gross-out comedy may not be to everyone's liking, but Bob and Walt Tenor make the grade in this top 10 for being the only lead characters in any movie to have shared a liver.

9. Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter movies



In a series of movies wracked with more shoddy acting than your average Keanu Reeves movie, James and Oliver Phelps provide some of the more badly-delivered moments as the mischievous twin siblings of the marginally more watchable Ron Weasley.

However, before the young brothers really have to prove their acting chops in the final instalment(s) of the franchise, they still clearly enjoy showing us how much fun a teenage wizard could be having when they haven't got the impending rise of the Dark Lord Voldemort to prevent. All that and we didn't mention their grotesque ginger hair and whey faces once. (*shudder*)

8. Beverly and Elliot Mantle in Dead Ringers



Just as the brilliant twin gynaecologists (played by Jeremy Irons) swap identities to share the women in their lives, director David Cronenberg swaps the gore and entrails usually found in his repertoire for an exploration of the horror within human nature.

Irons expertly portrays both the shy and sensitive Beverly and the more self-assured Elliot, giving perfectly nuanced performances to differentiate between the two personalities. If you're waiting for Jon Culshaw to show up and start doing impressions, you're doing it wrong.

7. Hallie Parker and Annie James in The Parent Trap



Before she filled the pages of our cheap glossy weeklies with drug-induced breakdowns and drunken fights with the paparazzi, Lindsay Lohan used to be a very good child actress.

Even before star turns in Mean Girls and Freaky Friday, Lohan made her movie debut in this remake of the 1961 Disney classic at the age of 11, in which she not only convincingly portrayed both the laid-back Californian Hallie and the prim-and-proper English Annie, but also pulled off a very credible English accent to boot. Sadly, Li-Lo's acting abilities were soon deflated when she discovered drugs, booze and boys.

6. Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation



In a career-defining move, Charlie Kaufman delivers this fourth-wall-breaking script about his struggle to adapt Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, an adaptation that becomes the very film we see. Things take a particular turn for the weird when Charlie's entirely fictional hack writer 'twin', Donald, agrees to help him write the ending and the film descends into clichéd action and melodrama as it reaches its conclusion, reflecting Donald's writing style.

Nicolas Cage takes a very welcome break from mediocre action flicks to give a brilliantly low-key performance of both Kaufmans, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. As screenwriter, Donald was nominated too, making him the first Oscar nominee to not actually exist.