Duplex (2003)
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Theatrical Release: Sep 26, 2003 Wide
Box Office: $9,652,000
Synopsis: Danny DeVito directs Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore in this devilish black comedy reminiscent of DeVito's THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN and THE WAR OF THE ROSES. Alex Rose (Stiller) and Nancy Kendricks (Barrymore) are a young, professional, New York couple in search of their dream home. When... Danny DeVito directs Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore in this devilish black comedy reminiscent of DeVito's THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN and THE WAR OF THE ROSES. Alex Rose (Stiller) and Nancy Kendricks (Barrymore) are a young, professional, New York couple in search of their dream home. When they finally find the perfect Brooklyn brownstone they are giddy with anticipation. The duplex is a dream come true, complete with multiple fireplaces, except for one thing: Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel), the cranky old lady who lives on the rent-controlled top floor. Assuming she is elderly and ill, they take the apartment but their hopes are quickly dashed when they realize that Mrs. Connelly is an energetic senior who enjoys watching her television at top volume day in and day out and rehearsing in a brass band. A writer, Alex, is attempting to finish his novel against a looming deadline. However, each day as he begins to write, he is interrupted by Mrs. Connelly's numerous demands and requests and what begins as a nuisance quickly escalates into an all-out war. When Nancy loses her job and the pair are trapped at home together with Mrs. Connelly, their rage turns to homicidal fantasy as they plot ways to get rid of their no-good neighbor. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore are pitch perfect as a good-natured couple who, like most DeVito characters, are driven by rage to do very bad things. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Ben Stiller, Eileen Essell, Harvey Fierstein, Justin Theroux
Screenwriter: Larry Doyle, John Hamburg
Producer: Stuart Cornfeld, Nancy Juvonen, Drew Barrymore, Ben Stiller
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Despite confident direction and performances, it rarely lifts itself above the ordinary.
This numbing barrage of demolition humor scores only a modest laugh count.
The material is capably handled by director DeVito and lifted by Stiller, a dab hand at physical comedy who also exhibits some onscreen chemistry with Barrymore.
Danny DeVito is one of the most underrated directors of our time.
Expecting Stiller to look stressed and Barrymore to look sweet isn't exactly demanding too much of your stars.,
Hard as it is to care about these homicidal homemakers, it is harder still to laugh at them.
Barrymore wanders through scenes as if she has trouble remembering what day it is.
Offer[ed] as a grown-up variation of the kind of fart-and-vomit humor that's passed around at the cineplex every day. But why? It is what it is.
Contando com um bom desfecho (algo raro nos dias de hoje), Duplex representa um passatempo razoável.
There's a nice dark comedy in this script that's flattened by DeVito's direction, which continually opts for manic goofiness and cruel vulgarity.
Duplex collapses in rubble long before the duplex of the film does, and it’s not even interesting wreckage.
not since 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,' has geriatric terrorism been so creepy.
Had Danny DeVito been born British and a quarter-century earlier, he would have fit right in at Ealing Studios, the English outfit known for biting black comedies.
DeVito keeps hurling handfuls of well-funded excrement on the screen and expects us to think it's funny.
The interplay between Stiller, Barrymore, and the elderly Essel is what makes Duplex hum perfectly at times.
A controlled farce that finds its cast mining several big laughs while DeVito, the cynic, deepens the dysfunction with a final surprise twist.
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