Amore in affitto

The downside is that this is pretty much another indie romantic comedy about a backed-up artist who meets a girl and just can't quite get his act together.

The upside is that it's at times very funny, with quirky, well-drawn characters and terrific performances, particularly by a pre-"You Can Count on Me" Mark Ruffalo.

On the whole, it's worth checking out.

This is not a real review, it should be understood more as a collection of impressions on the film.

This film is a horrendous disaster for several reasons, first of all the plot is banal but it gets over it anyway, the problem is that the whole film seems to have been made without the slightest effort and therefore the result is a boring film full of useless parts and meaningless that ends exactly as everyone would expect without twists and without the slightest involvement of the viewer. This film is like a story that you listen to distractedly just waiting for it to end because you can't stand watching something boring like this anymore. Last thing to say is that the beginning of the film is so senseless as to be unacceptable.

Alex (Mark Ruffalo) thinks the world is his oyster at this moment. He is about to have an art showing at a Los Angeles gallery and he shares a beautiful home with a lovely lady. Alas, the gallery manager cancels his show just as Alex says sayonara to his pizza delivery job. Then, in short order, his girlfriend breaks things off by dumping his stuff on the street and leaving a note on the door. Scrambling, the struggling painter finds an apartment in a rundown complex with a wide variety of nutcase tenants. One of them brings a Spam casserole on his first night, ugh. Yet, Alex keeps painting and soon meets a fellow tenant, Lori (Beth Ulrich) who is quite cute but has interests totally dissimilar to his. They have a brief "thing" but are they truly made for each other? Then, too, at a low point, Alex gets an inspiration for a new style of painting. Will this result in his big break? This offbeat romcom has some great ideas which don't quite fully bloom. Ruffalo and Ulrich, nevertheless, and the unknown secondary cast are funny and charming. The seedy sets of LA contrast with the poshier places but the direction slows the pace too much at times. But, if YOU, like ME, get desperate for an unseen romantic comedy now and again, drop by Apartment 12.

Alex is a painter, each of whose canvases is just one big window-sized slab of yellow (or red, or whatever color it happens to be). Not only his art but his life lacks inspiration: his one-man show is not to be, his girlfriend just walked out, he's moved into a building full of oddballs and he's back delivering pizza to pay the rent. I expected this flick to turn into a sitcom, but it got better as it went along, developing characters and relationships, especially the one between artsy liberal snob Alex and his new neighbor Lori, whose magnum pistol, martial arts skills and utter lack of sophistication generate the contempt he has for her, despite the fact that they're having a physical relationship. Throw in the wacky neighbors, like the bathrobe-clad Lothario/one-man Greek Chorus who wanders the halls and delivers his observations in Spanish, the super-nosy super, the big-busted strip-o-gram girl, the horny, man-devouring Biddie and a couple of others and you've got funny and touching portraits of a by turns lovable and unlovable loser and the colorful characters in his orbit. Don't know why, exactly, but this story reminded me a bit of Steve Buscemi's terrific "Tree's Lounge" - another indie about a loser and his odd pals. This one's cute and it's got a happier ending. For the price of your admission you get "early" Mark Ruffalo (2001) in an affecting role and cute, largely unknown Beth Ulrich, who's a find.

Slow and predictable because it ends like most movies in this genre. Beth Ulrich plays a surprisingly refreshing girl next door, but Mark Ruffalo plays a common role and does an average job at it. There is good chemistry between Ulrich and Ruffalo which really makes the movie worthy of being watched at least once. I think what's odd is this overall sense of dread that you get from the first 4/5ths of the movie. There are parts of this movie that will provide a bit of chuckle. Unlike some movies in this genre, it's not much of tear jerker. However, it should leave you feeling a little warm and fuzzy.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who has experienced heartbreak or just has a rainy day to spend away.