The Penthouse

I would have gave this 10 stars if Rider got naked.

I find some films very hard to review, however in this case it was quite the contrary. Maybe I'm a little hard on indie flicks in general but I find watching movies like The Penthouse especially easily to slate because I can't help but look at the finer picture; that being the overall message of the film. While this film shouldn't be viewed any deeper than its title, for me personally it's glaringly obvious just how little effort was put into its making. In retrospect this film should have been made in the image of The Hangover or American Pie in its approach toward comedy yet the actual comedy itself is hardly existent.

This film certainly has an appeal about it don't get me wrong... on its shell it has what most people are looking for in a "teen" comedy. Even though it's got all the characteristics of a "teen" comedy, most of its characters are of an adult age (around 30 years old). The reason I mention this is; these are fully grown men acting like they never grew up past the age of 17 or 18. One could almost see the film as an unflattering look at middle aged men who never matured. Nevertheless, it is on this point where the film seems to struggle to decide what kind of comedy it desires for; satire or no-brainer? On both of these levels the film falls flat on its face.

You have all the regular characters that have become familiar with these types of comedies. We have Kieran (Rider Strong) who is the lovable geek boy who wants to move on with his life however he is hampered by his girlfriend, Erica (Kaley Cuoco) wanting to tie him down. Tyler & Heath (Corey Large & James DeBello) are the two party animals who seem to be addicted to drinking & womanising. Finally there's Trista (April Scott) who is Tyler's hot sister (the way she seems fine living in the same penthouse with her brother totally dumbfounds me). The film basically follows a bunch of roommates negotiate their day to day lives in a Penthouse (won on a reality TV show by Tyler).

There's not much substance to the story itself which means the movie trudges along for 90 minutes without really achieving any goals. It's almost a painful & unrewarding experience for the viewer. For me at least it felt like the whole production team couldn't wait for the movie to be finished. All we are really seeing is a group of men drinking, having sex, having parties then starting the next day the same way (hardly inspiring material). Anyway it's really disappointing to see already established actors stoop to the amateurish level that this film did. It was a shame to see a dynamic actor like James DeBello (Cabin Fever) play a narcissistic loser alongside Corey Large, it's a real shame indeed. I must however commend actor Locklyn Munro who was the only real standout character, playing the soul-seeking adventurer, Barry, who to me was a huge contrast to all the other drab personalities (even though he seemed strangely misplaced). That is one of the few credits that I can give this film, which just goes through the motions of being a comedy without ever achieving it.

This is yet another piece of wasted film reel, wasted by a lazy production team who should have abandoned the idea while it was still being thought up on the drawing boards. If anything the film would have been served better as a socially conscious drama rather than being a directionless comedy that stands as its final product. It doesn't surprise me that this film was leaked onto the internet, even before its Direct-to-DVD release. Just goes to show how much financial return the studio thought it was going to get from this stinker!

1.5/5

Based on the cover of the movie, I was expecting a comedy in the lines of your basic run of the mill teen-comedies, but this movie wasn't particularly funny.

As for the story? Well, it was easy to follow, actually so easy to follow that you could switch off your brain entirely. You have some guy who wins a reality TV show and becoming a semi-celebrity because of it. And we all have so much respect for people competing in and winning "reality" TV shows, don't we? Anyway, the guy wins a penthouse and have his teenage friends move in. I have to point out that the guys here are nearing their 30th year. And of course they party and behave like they were teenagers, not much of a surprise there.

Then throw into the frame the contest winner's girlfriend and then have her become romantically entangled with one of his friends. That is pretty much the movie right there. And of course you know how this movie is going to end right from the very beginning, it is just that predictable. Enough said about the story.

Moving on to the people acting in the movie, Rider Strong in the role of Kieran was the one carrying the movie, though he should shave and get rid of that grizzly-look he was trying to sport in the movie. It was kind of disturbing to look at, but his acting was good and he was shining in this movie. Then you had Corey Lange who played Tyler (the reality TV show winner), he was adequate in acting, but you actually believed into his character well enough. And the third guy in the penthouse was Heath, played by James DeBello. He is sort of like Nicholas Cage, just have one face for whatever emotion he is trying to portray. Where as Nicholage Cage looks constipated, James DeBello just looks goofy, so it is a bit hard to take his seriously at times. April Scott, playing Trista, also helped the movie a good long way with her performance.

The best scene, in my opinion, in this entire movie was the lunch scene where Kieran had to meet the parents of the girl of which he was trying to break up with. Ed Begley Jr. was so awesome in that role. And I think that was actually the only time in the movie that I was laughing.

This movie looked promising, or sort of, on the DVD cover, but now that the movie is done I find myself sitting here with a somewhat empty feeling that goes "was that it?" to the movie. There was something missing in this movie to make it memorable. If you are in for an evening of fun and laughter, "The Penthouse" is perhaps not a movie to put your money on. You might just end up with the same sense of emptiness that I was left with.

I watched this movie last night in Iraq. Now normally in Iraq, bad movies are common place and something that you just have to deal with, since you really don't have an alternative. Well I have to say that I actually regret seeing this movie through to the end. This movie was just poorly acted and poorly put together. At no point was movie remotely entertaining. No part of it was funny either. And for being what appeared to be an attempt at a teen style comedy, there were no sexy parts to the movie either. This movie was a complete bust from start to finish.

I also must disagree with the first reviews comments on James DeBello. I've only seen him in one other movie, 100 Girls. While the movie itself wasn't that good, his role was atrocious. I have not seen Cabin Fever, so I cannot comment on his part in the movie. As soon as I saw him in The Penthouse, I got a bad feeling about the movie. I think that he made an already bad film, worse. He comes off as phony and undeveloped. I was surprised to see how movies he has actually been in when I was looking him up on IMDb.

I definitely do not recommend this movie to anyone. And this is coming from someone who routinely recommends bad movies, just so that others can see how truly bad the movie is.

Even Kaley Cuoco and Ed Begley Jr. couldn't redeem this dog of a film. How did this ever get released? Don't waste your time - I'd rather watch Police Academy or Animal House if I wanted TNA and juvenile pranks. I originally rented this just because I wanted to see Kaley in something other than The Big Bang Theory but I sure hope I can find some other title which can show her talents more than this dog. I was bored from the start until about 45 minutes into the film when I had to remove it from the DVD player because I couldn't stomach it any longer. I had no feelings towards the characters other than loathing and if I hadn't rented it (since I saw Kaley on the cover I thought it *might* be okay) I would have thrown it in the garbage after breaking the DVD in two so as not to subject any other human to watching it. Please don't waste your time or dollar(s) on this title.