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Duplex

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Duplex (2003)

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37 %
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Reviews Counted: 104

Fresh: 38

Rotten:66

Average Rating: 5/10

Consensus: It was funnier when it was called Throw Momma From the Train.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Danny DeVito directs Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore in this devilish black comedy reminiscent of DeVito's THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN and THE WAR OF THE ROSES. Alex Rose (Stiller) and Nancy Kendricks (Barrymore) are a young, professional,... Danny DeVito directs Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore in this devilish black comedy reminiscent of DeVito's THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN and THE WAR OF THE ROSES. Alex Rose (Stiller) and Nancy Kendricks (Barrymore) are a young, professional, New York couple in search of their dream home. When they finally find the perfect Brooklyn brownstone they are giddy with anticipation. The duplex is a dream come true, complete with multiple fireplaces, except for one thing: Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel), the cranky old lady who lives on the rent-controlled top floor. Assuming she is elderly and ill, they take the apartment but their hopes are quickly dashed when they realize that Mrs. Connelly is an energetic senior who enjoys watching her television at top volume day in and day out and rehearsing in a brass band. A writer, Alex, is attempting to finish his novel against a looming deadline. However, each day as he begins to write, he is interrupted by Mrs. Connelly's numerous demands and requests and what begins as a nuisance quickly escalates into an all-out war. When Nancy loses her job and the pair are trapped at home together with Mrs. Connelly, their rage turns to homicidal fantasy as they plot ways to get rid of their no-good neighbor. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore are pitch perfect as a good-natured couple who, like most DeVito characters, are driven by rage to do very bad things. [More]

Starring: Drew Barrymore, Ben Stiller, Eileen Essell, Harvey Fierstein

Starring: Drew Barrymore, Ben Stiller, Eileen Essell, Harvey Fierstein, Justin Theroux, Robert Wisdom, James Remar

Director: Danny DeVito

Director: Danny DeVito
Screenwriter: Larry Doyle, John Hamburg
Producer: Stuart Cornfeld, Nancy Juvonen, Drew Barrymore, Ben Stiller
Studio: Miramax Films

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Reviews for Duplex

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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Ratings Image

Despite confident direction and performances, it rarely lifts itself above the ordinary.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
08/12/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

The material is capably handled by director DeVito and lifted by Stiller, a dab hand at physical comedy who also exhibits some onscreen chemistry with Barrymore.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Barrymore wanders through scenes as if she has trouble remembering what day it is.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/13/04
Stella Papamichael
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

There's a nice dark comedy in this script that's flattened by DeVito's direction, which continually opts for manic goofiness and cruel vulgarity.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
02/12/04
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

This numbing barrage of demolition humor scores only a modest laugh count.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/22/08
David Rooney
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Danny DeVito is one of the most underrated directors of our time.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Kevin Carr
Film Threat
Ratings Image

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Herald | comment Comment
07/16/05
Paul Sherman
Boston Herald
Ratings Image

Expecting Stiller to look stressed and Barrymore to look sweet isn't exactly demanding too much of your stars.,

Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | comment Comment
07/16/04
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
Ratings Image

Hard as it is to care about these homicidal homemakers, it is harder still to laugh at them.

Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
04/30/04
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette
Ratings Image

Offer[ed] as a grown-up variation of the kind of fart-and-vomit humor that's passed around at the cineplex every day. But why? It is what it is.

Full Review Source: F5 (Wichita, KS) | comment Comment
03/19/04
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)
Ratings Image

Contando com um bom desfecho (algo raro nos dias de hoje), Duplex representa um passatempo razoável.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
03/17/04
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image

Duplex puts its viewers in a painful suplex.

comment Comment
03/08/04
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star
Ratings Image

What this little comedy needed was a little...comedy.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
03/04/04
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
Ratings Image

Duplex collapses in rubble long before the duplex of the film does, and it’s not even interesting wreckage.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
01/01/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Ratings Image

not since 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,' has geriatric terrorism been so creepy.

Full Review Source: Long Island Press | comment Comment
12/31/03
Prairie Miller
Long Island Press
Ratings Image

Had Danny DeVito been born British and a quarter-century earlier, he would have fit right in at Ealing Studios, the English outfit known for biting black comedies.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
11/04/03
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing
Ratings Image

DeVito keeps hurling handfuls of well-funded excrement on the screen and expects us to think it's funny.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
10/24/03
Jim Shelby
Palo Alto Weekly
Ratings Image

Occasionally, if disturbingly, quite funny.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
10/17/03
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
Ratings Image

The interplay between Stiller, Barrymore, and the elderly Essel is what makes Duplex hum perfectly at times.

Full Review Source: Modamag.com | comment Comment
10/10/03
Brian Orndorf
Modamag.com
Ratings Image

A controlled farce that finds its cast mining several big laughs while DeVito, the cynic, deepens the dysfunction with a final surprise twist.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
10/09/03
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Related Forums for Duplex

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Darko, Donnie
DUPLEX is duplicitous, a pseudo-drama posing as a comedy with one joke - at the end?
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