Review of Duplex (2003) by Xime F — 27 May 2011

If you've seen Stiller muddle through "Something About Mary", "The Meet the Parents Franchise", "Along Came Polly" and "Envy"...then you've basically seen this. Basically it's another "Ben Stiller has the perfect life until something else comes along and then it's turns into a Ben Stiller vs. the world" movie. This time you get to see him struggle with a bothersome elderly woman tenant of an antique duplex he just bought w/his Wife (played by Drew Barrymore). She's annoying enough to cause him to drive him crazy, but not enough to get kicked out. She plays her TV loud at night, knocks on their door and calls them all day, everyday. Instead of finding her in breach of contract of a loud noise level ordinance, he go through the great lengths of getting her out, to include booby-trapping her apt and hiring a hit-man (but I guess that's funnier.) This movie has some "cute" moments with the old lady, but in the end it leaves you empty.

Danny DeVito's film, based on a story by Larry Doyle, however keeps things rather firmly in PG fashion even though the couple's intent move from nice tactics into murderous territory, deciding to employ desperate measures given that they're driven up the wall and with the couple both having their household revenue stream impacted. Both Stiller and Barrymore provide good comic timing especially in their individual scenes (well, someone has to bring home the bacon) when their characters get stuck with "entertaining" the bothersome old lady whose requests usually turn out to end in some sort bad way for them.

But the scene stealer would of course be Eileen Essell as Mrs. Connelly with her playing both the fragile old Irish lady who is more than meets the eye, a force to be reckoned with beneath the aged exterior, capable of tugging at your conscience and making you feel guilty should you not accede to her gentle pleas, which almost always come laced with sarcasm, or the nitty gritty that makes you feel bad. Convincingly playing her role without which this film would probably have not been able to make me laugh with or at Stiller and Barrymore's characters as they get stuck in their predicament which comes with a predictable twist at the end. It's evil, I know.