Summary:
Alex and Nancy have it pretty good. They
are a young, vibrant couple in New York City with bright futures ahead of them.
But one thing is missing: a home of their own. When they find one, it comes with
one feature they didn't expect--an upstairs tenant, Mrs. Connelly, who lives in
a rent-controlled apartment, and who isn't quite as easy-going or frail as Alex
and Nancy originally anticipated. As their blissful life begins to seriously
fray around the edges, their dream home rapidly turns into a nightmare and they
decide that they must get Mrs. Connelly out of their lives.
Review:
Dark comedies are always hard to gauge. On one hand they aren't meant to be
slapstick or conventionally funny. They rely more on an underlying cynicism
to create a funny satire. This is where the problem becomes evident
(especially in this film). Although television stations spew out similar
sitcoms on situational/slapstick comedy formats and succeed year in year
out, this isn't the case for satires or dark comedies. Although media moguls
can gauge what people will find funny through conventional comedy, their is
no standing precedent for what people find satirically funny. In case in
point, Cable Guy was a dark comedy and it bombed in the theaters and
almost ruined Jim Carrey's career. Before this particular film Jim Carrey
rode a meteoritic ride to fame with slapstick routines. Following the
failure of this film he went on to push the same slapstick routines but in
different packages and has become one of Hollywood's top leading men.
Death to Smoochy by Danny Devito was a brilliant film and the
perfect premise for a satire/dark comedy. It showed the ugly
behind-the-scenes side of children's shows such as Teletubbies and Barney.
But Duplex which is another Danny Devito film follows another format
entirely in my opinion. It utilizes a normal premise and tries to create a
subtle satire about normal characters. I mean they could've called these
characters John and Jane Doe. Ben Stiller plays Alex, the writer, really
common profession in B movies nowadays and Nancy (Drew Barrymore) portrays
an editor for a magazine which is a really common position for women (Message
in a Bottle, Lois Lane in Superman, etc). Now this is my criticism for
this particular film that it's characters aren't creative enough to create a
satirical enough setting for the movie. But, I guess Danny Devito could be
going after the dark subtleties or everyday people. I personally find
this to be boring and pointless especially with the casting. I think Ben
Stiller and Drew Barrymore do a great job at playing creative characters
with lots of flavor rather than boring reporters and writers. I mean Ben
Stiller's big films have him playing a male nurse in Meet the Parents
and a fashion model in Zoolander. Drew Barrymore is well known for
producing and starring in the Charlie's Angels movies. Futhermore the movie
through the script and awful direction try to suppress these
actors/actresses natural ability to make people laugh and it is agonizing to
watch. I mean they do everything they can to make sure that Ben Stiller
keeps his lid and doesn't go crazy where that's probably what he does
best.
In the end I personally found this film to be absolute torture to sit
through and I almost asked for my money back. But, on the other hand I can
easily see how some people might actually like the movie if they have
similar life experiences in a big city. Satires are sometimes effective devices
when the people watching the film have gone through similar or have heard of
similar instances in the past. Office Space was a very popular movie
(although it wasn't an absolute satire) since many people work in offices
and they identified with the characters. But unless you identify with these
characters through personal experiences, you will find this film to be
absolute agony and might scratch your eyes out in the process.
See this movie if you're a fan of:
Danny Devito (Actor/Director, Twins, Death to Smoochy)
Ben Stiller (Actor, Zoolander, Meet the Parents)
Drew Barrymore (Actress, Charlie's Angels, E.T., The Wedding Singer)
Dark comedies
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