Duplex (2003)

Duplex (released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Our House) is a 2003 American black comedy film directed by Danny DeVito (who also narrated the film) and written by Larry Doyle. It stars Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore, with Eileen Essell, Harvey Fierstein, Robert Wisdom, Justin Theroux, and James Remar in supporting roles.

The film was released by Miramax Films on September 26, 2003. It received mixed to negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing $19.3 million against a $40 million budget.

Plot

Young, New York couple Alex and Nancy are sick of their tiny apartment in The City and are searching for their dream home.

They find a Brooklyn brownstone duplex that is perfect, except for the elderly tenant upstairs: Mrs. Connelly, an old Irish lady who lives on the rent-controlled top floor. Assuming she won't live long, they buy the house.

Mrs. Connelly complains about the plumbing; blasts her television at all hours; and rehearses her dancing and brass band; so, the couple is soon sleep deprived and exhausted.

A novelist, Alex is struggling to meet his latest deadline, or have his contract cancelled.

When she can't get Alex, Mrs. Connelly calls Nancy at work; so, she can't work either.

The dream is becoming a nightmare. They can't get her to move; their noise complaint is countered by Mrs. Connolly's harassment charge against them. The couple attempts to kill her multiple times. They try to give her the flu after that got it, however, she tells them that she just had a flew shot. Alex pretends that he is fixing her pipes. He is actually making them leak. Once the ceiling (her floor) is damaged enough, they anticipate that she will fall through and die. The ceiling caves in but she does not fall. For the last attempt, they both sneak into her apartment to smother her with a pillow. However, she is awake and informs them that they will not will.

Exhausted and desperate they hire a hitman, which will cost everything they have, who finally arrives on Christmas Eve.

In a desperate fight, with a speargun, the building catches fire from a fireplace that was one of the building's main selling points.

But, Nancy and Alex can't leave the old lady to die in the fire and rescue her.

With no other options, they sell the house, only to find that Mrs. Connelly has passed away, in her sleep, as they leave.

In an epilogue, it turns out that this has been a long-running real estate scam. The realtor is Mrs. Connelly's son, and the police officer, his partner.

Mrs. Connelly fakes her own death so the mark won't return.

Alex and Nancy were their latest victims, amongst many.

Alex and Nancy relocate to the Bronx. Alex uses their unpleasant experience as inspiration for his next book entitled Duplex.

A final voice-over says that "Alex and Nancy's dream house may have been too good to be true, but did they live happily ever after? Well, read the book."

Cast

Production

In November 2000, it was reported that Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore had signed on to star in the Larry Doyle scripted The Duplex for Miramax Films. Barrymore's Flower Films and Stiller's Red Hour Productions were set to develop the project about a young New York couple who have a chance to move into a gorgeous duplex in the perfect neighborhood and circumstances arise that drive them to conflict with the current tenant, an elderly woman. In June 2001, it was reported that Greg Mottola had signed on to direct the film. However, in November of that year, Danny DeVito came on board to direct after Mottola amicably departed the film.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 35% of 111 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's consensus reads: "It was funnier when it was called Throw Momma From the Train." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 50 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out of four and wrote that the "murder schemes aimed at Mrs. Connelly don't generate the laughter they should, maybe because no matter what she does, she still seems, irremediably, unredeemably, a sweet little old lady. [...] Duplex is all about plotting; it tries to impose emotions that we don't really feel. We can't identify with Mrs. Connelly, that's for sure, but we can't identify with Alex and Nancy, either, because we don't share their frustration -- and the reason we don't is because we don't believe it. There's too much contrivance and not enough plausibility, and so finally we're just enjoying the performances and wishing they'd been in a more persuasive movie."

Barrymore earned a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress for her performances in both Duplex and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, but lost to Jennifer Lopez for Gigli.

On a $40 million budget, it grossed $9,692,135 in the US, and $19,322,135 worldwide, making it a commercial failure.

References

External links

Duplex at IMDb

Duplex at Box Office Mojo

Duplex at Rotten Tomatoes

Duplex at Metacritic