Der Appartement Schreck

From the twisted mind of Danny DeVito comes this story in the style of "War of the Roses". Here, a nice NY couple finally find their dream home only to discover that they have a built in tenant. Not exactly what they were looking for but it really can't be that bad can it? The little old lady that lives upstairs turns out to be a nightmare and a half. In a variety of scenarios, most comical and some just plain, outright strange, the nice couple turn into psycho landlords and the nice old lady turns into the crazy bat upstairs. In the end, the twist comes as a true surprise. A hilarious, laugh out loud movie, this was really enjoyable and a must watch. DeVito has done it again and I can't wait to see what's coming next!!!

8/10

Not that it really takes much to be better than Death to Smoochy (which was really "Throw Momma From the Train" with Barney), but this movie is quite a bit better. It's more like "Throw Momma From the Train" in an apartment.

The movie has several HILARIOUS episodes dealing with Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore as they try to deal with and plot to kill their upstairs tenant. The movie had some GUT-BUSTING parts where I (and the rest of the theater) couldn't stop laughing. [One of those times where you laugh so hard and loud you miss the next 30-60 seconds of dialogue] The performances were great, especially the old lady and Ben Stiller. Drew Barrymore seemed to be miscast at first (or at least not a good match for Ben Stiller), but when things started picking up, she played evil pretty well (thank you, years of recklessness).

The end of the movie was a let down of sorts, as the ending was sort of abrupt. It dragged for the last third, but by the end had wrapped up for the most part with no loose ends. In my opinion, this movie was better than Smoochy, but doesn't hold a candle to THROW MOMMA. I'd still give it 8 out of 10. I'm definitely going to purchase it on DVD when it is released.

The writer Alex Rose (Ben Stiller) and his beloved wife Nancy Kendricks (Drew Barrymore), who works in an advertisement agency, want to buy a house and cannot afford an apartment in Manhattan, but they find a wonderful old duplex in Brooklyn for living. The house, which has three fireplaces, is a dream, the price is very reasonable and the only inconvenient is the existence of the old tenant Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel) on the second floor. Although aware that they can not move the old lady from her apartment, the young couple decides to buy the duplex. When they move to their new home, their lives become a hell, due to the nasty Mrs. Connelly. "Duplex" is a very funny black comedy, directed by Danny DeVito, who is a specialist in this genre. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore show a great chemistry, but Eileen Essel "steals the show" in the role of a sweet & nasty old lady. There are two plot points in the end of the story that I liked a lot. "Duplex" is not a masterpiece, but make the viewer, who likes black humor, laughs a lot and is a good entertainment. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Duplex"

It's always nice to find a simple, pleasant comedy amidst the horde of mainstream moneymakers released every year. It's not that I have a distaste for epics or over-produced movies, but after viewing overwhelming films, it's always fun to view a simple one shortly afterwards. And if that's what you're looking for -- a simple, sweet comedy -- then "Duplex" certainly fits the bill.

Almost.

It's not evil but it isn't exactly sweet. Its premise sounds like the former -- it's about two landlords who try to kill their upstairs tenant, who is unable to be forced from the apartment due to contractual obligations. For Alex and Nancy (Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore), this is at first no problem whatsoever. They purchase a nice New York duplex and have no hesitations about loaning out the floor upstairs. Quoting the title of a film starring DeVito (the director), "What's the worst that could happen?"

Well, a lot.

At first, as is always the case, everything seems nice and dandy. They move in, buy some furniture, set up their new lives, and manage to relax a bit. But soon the "sweet old lady" their real estate agent told them about turns out to be the spawn of Satan. She is an Irish woman who is "somewhere between ninety-five and a hundred-and-five," lives by herself upstairs, plays her television very loud all night long, boasts about her passed husband and how great a sea fisherman he was in his day, calls Alex Alan and refuses to admit she's made a mistake, etc., etc. She calls Alex upstairs every day and has him run extravagant errands for her. Alex is a struggling writer with a deadline before his second book is due, so he tries to tell the sweet old woman that he can't help her out all the time. "But there's just this one thing," she says, and fits on an angelic smile in order to make him feel sorry for her.

But soon she's claiming that her landlords are trying to rape and murder her and the cops side with the woman. Left with nowhere to go, Alex and Nancy eventually succumb to their anger and decide they must put the hag out of her misery and take over the upstairs floor. Their excuse is that a baby is on the way, and they'll need the room, but by this time we sympathize with both of them and want to see this woman murdered anyway. Trust me, after you watch this movie, you'll be feeling the same way, too.

And I suppose that's part of the success of "Duplex" -- like other DeVito movies, it takes a seemingly appalling plot (see "Throw Momma From the Train") and, by advancing and developing its characters, and drawing us into their conflicts, has us relate to them. We want the hag dead, too.

Danny DeVito's directorial debut, "Throw Momma from the Train," (1987) was a simple dark comedy that borrowed its premise from Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train." Since then, DeVito has delivered a fair share of hits ("The War of the Roses") and misses ("Death to Smoochy"). One thing's for sure, though: all of his films have a distinct style of humor, and exploitation of the weakness of humanity, that separates them from the rest of the genre.

DeVito is able to make the audience relate with his characters and have them fantasize about doing similar things. "I'm so evil," Barrymore complains halfway through the movie. "Well, I have my fantasies, too," Stiller tells her, which is then followed by images of him killing the old woman upstairs and smiling about it. He tells her his ideas. She grins. "You're evil, too!"

From a text standpoint, this indeed seems very evil, and appears as if it would be in a Stone ("Natural Born Killers") or Tarantino-written ("True Romance") movie. But when you're watching "Duplex," it all comes across as a joke, and it doesn't seem very cruel at all, and DeVito's ability to transform his audience into fantasizing sickos is sort of mildly genius if you stop and think about it. I'd never kill an old woman but "Duplex" is able to make us sympathize with its characters and agree with their decision. Now that's the sign of a good director if you ask me.

4/5 stars.

• John Ulmer

In Danny De Vito's "Duplex," Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore play a young couple who buy a "dream apartment" in Brooklyn whose amenities include everything two upwardly mobile yuppies could possibly want: ample space, solid wood floors, three glorious fireplaces, and, above all, a quiet environment where Alex, a budding novelist, can spend his days writing in uninterrupted peace and quiet. Or so they think…for, unfortunately, the place also comes replete with what turns out to be the tenant from hell, a doddering old woman who lives on the second floor and who makes life miserable for the two of them with her continually blaring television and her constant intrusions into their daily lives. Finally driven to the breaking point, Alex and Nancy decide to take matters into their own hands in order to rid themselves of this human pest in any way they can.

"Duplex" is, essentially, a one-joke comedy and, as such, it does suffer from the occupational hazard common to all one-joke comedies of built-in repetitiousness. However, the writing has a surprisingly dark edge to it that lifts the film above the run-of-the-Hollywood-comedy-mill. I must confess to having a certain weakness for dotty old lady comedies, counting among my favorite films the original British classic "The Lady killers" from 1955. Eileen Essel is so delightful as the bete noire of the piece that it's hard not to fall under the spell of both her character and the film itself. De Vito, in a return to the black comedy form that served him so well in "The War of the Roses," keeps the comedy tough and brutal, even if it means bludgeoning the audience over the head a bit in the process. Stiller does his usual shtick as the put-upon Everyman, while Barrymore is able to use her customary cutesiness to full advantage as the sweet little ingénue driven to murder to save her own sanity.

"Duplex" is certainly not everyone's cup of tea, and I imagine that it would not win the stamp of approval from the AARP. Still, if you're in the market for something different in a mainstream comedy, "Duplex" just might fit the bill.