Since I loved both Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore, I felt that Duplex would be one of the better comedies on DVD this year. The premise, afterall, was quite interesting, a young couple desperately wanting their own place, purchase what seems to be a dream location. The price is right, the location is perfect and there's only one small catch. The house is actually a duplex with a tenant that cannot be evicted due to rent control policies in New York City.
Alex (Ben Stiller) and Nancy (Drew Barrymore) find this to be a very small problem since this neighbor is a single elderly lady who has been there for years. Mrs. Connelly (Alicia Essel), a wee Irish widow turns out to be a major menace causing all kinds of havoc to the young couple. Alex's dream of peace anc quiet so he can write a follow-up to his novel turns awry when his landlord duties become a full time job. Harking back to Stiller's hilarious predicataments with pets, Duplex features a sorely underused Parrot that provides some of this dry comedy's few highlights.
The problem with Duplex is it can't seem to keep to its roots as a black comedy, ala Cable Guy. The editing in the film is terrible with some sequences ending abruptly leaving audiences wondering what just happened. For a black comedy to work one has to believe the plight of the character. Alex and Nancy are just far too nice to be believable as murderers. Duplex is enjoyable only if you don't mind wasting a few hours of your life.
The Disc:
While the film itself may be somewhat terrible, the DVD comes home with a pretty impressive transfer. While the editing room choked on their duties of cutting, the look of the film and its change from theater to video went very well. Disney offers up viewers a choice of both widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic viewing or the changed for home viewing standard 1.33.1 option.
Sounds in the movie comes through crystal clear for this dialog driven feature. Viewers are offered up their choice of English Dolby Digital 5.1 or French Dolby Digital Surround for you viewers in Canada. While there's not much action in the film to fill in the surrounds, the movie still packs some punches in small sequences.
As expected since the film tanked at theaters and not much is expected of the home release, the disc receives very few extras. Aside from being presented in both formats, the film offers up a substanard amount of extra materials. It begins with one very very short and uninformative "behind the scenes" clip that consists of just basic footage of the cast. and crew. There's also some deleted scenes that barely make any sense. Not much here but hey what do you expect with a movie like this?
bottom line:
I love Stiller and Barrymore but their chemistry here is off and the editing stinks up the place. Loose the darkness of the comedy and re-edit and you might have a hit on your hands.
2 out of 5
By - Brian Gray
