Rating of
2.5/4
funny black comedy
filmfan09 - wrote on 01/09/09
DUPLEX is a cartoonish black comedy about a young couple driven to financial ruin and finally to plotting the murder of their elderly tenant. Alex (Ben Stiller) and Nancy (Drew Barrymore) think they've found their dream house, a spacious duplex in Brooklyn. At first, their upstairs tenant, Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel), seems like a sweet old lady, but after they move in, she constantly interrupts Alex, who is trying to finish writing a book, to ask for help or complain about problems with the apartment.
As in director Danny DeVito's other comedies, Throw Mama From the Train, The War of the Roses, and Death to Smoochy, the humor stems from watching nasty people torture each other. There are some funny moments as Alex and Nancy helplessly try to set some boundaries but get caught up in yet another excruciating errand for Mrs. Connelly, and when their schemes to get her out of the house backfire. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore show a great chemistry, but Eileen Essel "steals the show" in the role of a sweet & nasty old lady. "Duplex" is certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but it made me laugh. Guess I just like mean spirited humor.
