Duplex (DVD)

...called by its US title Duplex and I overlooked the info. on IMDB, see the last paragraph (edit) at the end of the review - thanks mummy2harry for bringing this to my attention, my mistake! **

I noticed this movie was shown on BBC One late at night a week or so back and as I read that it starred both Ben Stiller (a favourite actor of mine, among a few) and Drew Barrymore (a favourite actress of mine, out of 2 or 3 max), I decided I ...
...(in Brookly, NY), but a duplex (ie an apartment on two floors, not just one). However, there's a very big snag to this, which they don't realise until they quickly snap it up and start to live in it, this snag being the live in tenant that stays in the floor above, an old Irish American lady called Mrs. Connelly.

Now the realtor did make Alex and Nancy aware of Mrs. Connellys presence, however he gave them the impression that she's ... more

**Please note - sorry for any confusion but this is the same movie as 'Our House' which is the UK title for it and has its own entry on Ciao. If you want to buy or rent this movie, it'll be under the title 'Our House' and NOT 'Duplex', unless your in the US. I didn't realise it went by a different title in the UK, having only seen it on TV where it was called by its US title Duplex and I overlooked the info. on IMDB, see the last paragraph (edit) at the end of the review - thanks mummy2harry for bringing this to my attention, my mistake! **

I noticed this movie was shown on BBC One late at night a week or so back and as I read that it starred both Ben Stiller (a favourite actor of mine, among a few) and Drew Barrymore (a favourite actress of mine, out of 2 or 3 max), I decided I had to record this and watch it later, which I did. I have to admit, I'd never heard of this movie before (possibly partly because of the title mix up!!) and having looked it up online, it appears that this wasn't a massive success, going straight to video, at least in the UK I believe. It dates from 2003 and is basically about a new couple, Alex Rose (played by Ben Stiller) and Nancy Kendricks (played by Drew Barrymore), who think they have the best luck ever in finding not only an apartment that they can afford (in Brookly, NY), but a duplex (ie an apartment on two floors, not just one). However, there's a very big snag to this, which they don't realise until they quickly snap it up and start to live in it, this snag being the live in tenant that stays in the floor above, an old Irish American lady called Mrs. Connelly.

Now the realtor did make Alex and Nancy aware of Mrs. Connellys presence, however he gave them the impression that she's both old and not particularly well, so they start off by thinking that it shouldn't be such a problem, perhaps she won't be around long and then they'll have access to the upper floor, which, yes, is a bit of a cold thought really and really this is where the main problem is with the movie... as it turns out that really the whole movie is about both Alex and Nancy's attempts to basically get rid of the poor Mrs. Connelly! Now im sure you'll be gasping at this thought, thinking this doesn't sound like the kind of movie that Ben Stiller would be in... infact it probably doesn't sound funny at all! and depending on how seriously you take it, you might not laugh... though you'd have to take it very seriously to not laugh at all and there is a bit more to the story than this.

See there's pretty good reason why Alex and Nancy want Mrs. Connelly gone, having seen what they have to put up with living in the same house, I do feel sorry for them and can understand their frustration! See Alex works as a writer and tries to stay in the duplex writing every day, as he has a deadline for his book to be finished but yet every day, Mrs. Connelly keeps on nagging him and asking hm to do many mundane things and slowly things go from the mundane to, yup, the ridiculous! from him having to transport her to the pharmacy to the bank and grocery store and so on and at each place, she proceeds to count things out painfully slowly. The whole time Alex clearly wants to be back writing his book at home, just praying for her to hurry up, when someone walks up to the counter and asks for something and this makes her lose her place after counting many pills or items and, of course, she has to start again, infuriating Alex. So yes, its a bit cringeworthy!

Then there's the sleepless nights due to her falling asleep with the TV turned up loud, and not just loud but painfully loud! and the early morning music recitals she holds in the house and so on, you get the picture!

There also are problems that develop with the pipes in the house and water stains start to show up and other problems with the house develop, whereby as the movie goes on, in a similar vain to 'The Money Pit' (a movie I remember watching as a child, starring Tom Hanks and dating from the late 80s, about a couple who buy their dream home only to find that it falls to pieces very quickly), the building degrades and things go from bad to worse.

It is fair to say that there is an uncomfortable amount of comedy around the character of Mrs. Connelly that COULD be seen as being ageist, although I do also feel that this is at least partly addressed during the movie, with the introduction of Officer Dan (played by Robert Wisdom), who gets involved after an incident (ill explain in a minute) and from then on, keeps a close eye on the couple and is basically very much on Mrs. Connelly's side, asserting her right to stay there unharrassed, although usually its a case of mistaken interpretation, whereby she thinks they have done something that they actually didn't do... Officer Dan comes on the scene when, during a party, Nancy invites her boss from work and colleagues to have a look at where Mrs. Connelly lives, thinking she was at a church choir practice, as it turns out that was the following week and she's in and when she opens the door to so many people she sprays mase onto all of their faces and this leads to the boss falling backwards and falling down the stairs and they have to call an ambulance for him. The officer tells the couple that they can't just go up there and have a look around whenever they want, they have to respect the privacy of Mrs. Connelly, though of course she says that she thought Mrs. Connelly was out.

On another ocassion, they decide to try and be nice to her and get her a box of chocolates but even this goes horribly wrong when she chokes on one of them and they have to rush to perform CPR on her but when she wakes up she sees Nancy with her hands on her chest and thinks that both her and Alex were trying to 'have their way (ie with her)'(!) (as Alex had some lipstick on his mouth from having given her mouth to mouth, to his disgust) so they get a big ticking off from Officer Dan, who says they keep a list of people like them at the station - sexual predators lol (which they clearly aren't!).

Another time, she believes that she's spotted a mouse dropping but Nancy is sure that its just a raisin, which is what it looks like and she tries to prove it by eating it but then and only then after puttng it in her mouth, she says 'I sprayed it with liceon(?) (presumably some pesticide or poison or something)'.

Its not just her though, she also has a pet that can get in the way at times too, not a little dog or a cat but a parrot, or, as she says, not a parrot (though, like Alex says, it is a type of a parrot but apparently she doesn't want to believe that) but a Macaw, which, for some strange reason (seems a slightly weird name to use but whatever) is called Little Dick. Their quirky characters alright! I think in a way thats what partially saves the movie, you can't quite believe that the whole comedy comes from simply the fact that Mrs. Connelly is old but anyone of any age who did many of these things and had a pet Macaw too would probably be equally annoying and frustrating!

Its the quirkiness of the situations for the most part that made me laugh, although I do feel guilty that even though thats the case and also at the end of the movie, there's a twist that does kind of explain things a bit, there is an ageist element to this movie, especially when the couple talk quite seriously, so it seems, about ways they could kill her (out of frustration!), just to get rid of her and get back to having a peaceful life, the way they sort of laugh it off, does make me feel a bit uncomfortable, though I know this is far from a documentary!.

I do feel sorry for Alex and Nancy, who, through again some fairly quirky situations, end up losing alot. In one scene, Mrs. Connelly is sure she's spotted a rat and gets Alex to check, when she sees it again she picks up his laptop (product placement from Apple I notice), which he had put down to look for the rat and she throws it at it but it misses and accidentally lands in the fire! so Alex tries desperately to get it back and through even worse luck it ends up on the road outside and yup, you guessed it, even though its night time there just happens to be a vehicle driving along the road. His story is no more... let that be a lesson to always back up important files held in laptops or desktops really, students and workers alike!

Its mainly slapstick comedy and fairly innocent, daft stuff, apart from the ageism thats present and really the bottom line is for you to decide - if your someone who hates to see people stereotyped, especially older/elderly people, then this will clearly hit a nerve with you (most likely anyway) and I would recommend that you give this a miss. Another example of very slapstick comedy from this movie includes when Alex is desperate to get out the house and Mrs. Connelly asks him to put some salt on the steps as its pretty icy outside and he just shrugs it off like yeah maybe later on or whatever, so of course he isn't really thinking and opens the front door, puts one foot down and whoops! away he flies down the thickly iced steps! always a good one that, though I sure wouldn't want it to happen to me!

I guess it all depends on what kind of a sense of humour you have and how seriously you take the character of Mrs. Connelly, as I've already mentioned. I would say in its favour that at the end of the movie, things are made a bit more clear that make you think that Mrs. Connelly knew what she was doing, at least somewhat, so its not too ageist I suppose, she was being clever in a way, perhaps. Also another thing that I just thought of too is that its clear that Mrs. Connelly has Irish roots, are they trying to say that old Irish Americans are all crafty or dotty? hmmm... Alex tries at one point to encourage her to think about going back to live in Ireland, 'the ol' Emerald Isle' and all of that, with a bad Irish accent of course lol and in one part of the movie, Mrs. Connelly is shown doing a daft Riverdance while she watched Riverdance on TV (which Alex thought was old news, 'I thought nobody watched that anymore' or something similar I believe he says), which leads to a part of the floor actually giving in and falling into the lower floor! though I have to say, I actually found that quite funny! (the floor giving in and the silly dancing I guess lol) Like I say, its all pretty light hearted stuff, its not the sort of movie thats obviously trying to make too many serious points, or if it is then perhaps its that you shouldn't underestimate the elderly, they can be quite crafty!

Its up to you to decide if you take any offence from the ageism and the Irish connection etc., which I guess is really more stereotyping than race or age isms really, but like I keep saying, I think its all fairly light hearted stuff in general...

Maybe its best if your a fan of Ben Stiller and/or Drew Barrymore and like slapstick comedies and if you liked the Money Pit, then I'd say you should maybe give this a try and see what you think.

As much as its a sensitive issue as far as the character of Mrs. Connelly is concerned, I think it would be pretty hard to not at least partly feel sorry for Alex and Nancy, with some of the things they have to put up with. I thought that the acting performances from both Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore weren't overly amazing, more average for them really. You could see the frustration showing on Alexs face though!

I do admit I did get quite a fair few laughs from it, mainly from the absurd situations really but even so, I'll admit I did feel some tinges of guilt laughing at parts where I felt they were really being pretty ageist, poking fun of her and her irrational thoughts and slower reactions like counting things out slowly as mentioned earlier, since she's elderly.

I do think that clearly its a comedy and its not meant to be taken too seriously, alot of the humour (though not all of it) revolves around absurd situations and it isn't entirely related to her elderly status, so to speak, but when it got to the part where Alex and Nancy discuss ways to get rid of her for good, I think looking back on it, its maybe a bit much.

Overall its a good comedy, I think it was worth taping from TV but I wouldn't really bother buying it on DVD. Its a fairly typical Ben Stiller movie in terms of being quirky and with slapstick comedy but I think that if the movie had revolved around them trying to get rid of a younger annoying tenant, it would have worked better with no real guilt needing to be felt from watching it!

I've rated this movie as 'good' as I felt after having seen it, that it was a pretty decent entertaining, light hearted comedy in general I feel but depending on how you see the portrayal of Mrs. Connelly and how seriously you take it (I didn't take it too seriously while I was watching it), you may rate it as poor or very poor or if it doesn't bother you, you may think of it as very good *shrug* it all depends on your take on it...

I changed my mind and decided to recommend it, for fans of Ben Stiller and/or Drew Barrymore, or if your looking for a fairly basic light hearted and daft comedy, as long as you don't find any offence with Mrs. Connelly's portrayal...

I hope this review at least partially helps you make your mind up on whether you'd enjoy it though.

Edit:- as someone has commented, this movie is also known as 'Our House' in the UK. I apologise, I hadn't realised that it had a different title here! when it was shown on the BBC a week or so back, it was listed with the American title 'Duplex'. I looked it up on IMDB but thought that if it had a different title it would specify so under the search results, where I searched for 'Duplex' , there was no mention of other titles being used for it but now that I search further, I see that it does have a different title in the UK... so I apologise for not mentioning that, I wasn't aware of it...

I've also edited this review in general too, as I wasn't happy with my original version of the review, I thought it was a bit confusing and sort of 'messy', I wasn't too sure how exactly I felt about it and I thought too much about another review I'd read about it (on another website btw not here) but I've thought it out now and so this is the better version of the review! im happy with it now... and no, I didn't copy anyone elses review, I thought it all out myself, I haven't copy and pasted from any other reviews...

Thanks again for any and all ratings and comments, I'll try and do the same in return! 

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