Duplex MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 Content: -1

In this dark comedy, a young couple is looking to find a place to live in New York City. Alex (Ben Stiller) is a promising author, and Nancy (Drew Barrymore) is a magazine editor. They come across this beautiful, old duplex in Brooklyn that they cant resist. Upstairs lives a sweet, little old lady or so she seems named Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel). As it turns out, Mrs. Connelly can be very annoying in a sweet kind of way. She begins asking Alex if he would help by taking out her garbage and then by walking her to the market, where she counts every grape and blueberry. At night, she has the TV on so loud they can hear every word. Alex is trying to meet a publishing deadline on his latest book but is running out of time, is short on sleep and is losing patience with Mrs. Connelly. Something must change.

This is a cute story with several funny moments. The relationship between the couple and the lady upstairs is fun to watch. As the story progresses, however, the couple begins to lose it with the old lady and the film takes a dark turn. At first, they just ask her to leave. When that proves ineffective, their plans become devious as they plot her murder. This dark mood seems to be typical of films directed by Danny DeVito. The bad language and violence is moderate at first but grows increasingly worse. One man is shot with a speargun while another is shot in the groin. People are shown falling down stairs, and a woman is lying in the middle of the flames of a house fire. As a result of the digression of the morals, language and violence, Preview cannot recommend Duplex.

Preview Reviewer: Alan Boyer
Distributor: Miramax Films