duplex

Duplex
Duplex film poster
Directed by	Danny DeVito
Produced by	Drew Barrymore Stuart Cornfeld Ben Stiller
Written by	Larry Doyle
Starring	Ben Stiller Drew Barrymore Eileen Essell
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	September 26 2003
Running time	89 minutes
Language	English
Budget	~ US$40,000,000
IMDb profile

Duplex is a 2003 dark comedy film directed by Danny DeVito, and starring Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore.

Barrymore was nominated for "Worst Actress" award in the 2003 Golden Raspberry Awards for her performance in Duplex. She lost to Jennifer Lopez for her role in Gigli.

The film was called Our House for its UK and Irish release.

Cast

• Ben Stiller – Alex Rose
• Drew Barrymore – Nancy Kendricks
• Eileen Essell – Mrs. Connelly
• Harvey Fierstein - Kenneth
• Robert Wisdom – Officer Dan
• Danny DeVito – Narrator (voice)
• Maya Rudolph – Tara, Nancy's Coworker
• Amber Valletta – Celine

Plot

Alex Rose and Nancy Kendricks are a young yuppie couple who are looking for a perfect home. They finally settle for a grand duplex in Brooklyn, unaware that a seemingly sweet little old lady named Mrs. Connelly, is living upstairs.

After having a chat with the old lady (and nibbling on her expired snacks) she tells Alex & Nancy about her late husband Richard, who was a sea man. Incidently, her parrot is named "little Dick" after Richard. They bring her a bottle of wine but she turns it down. After Mrs. Connelly goes to sleep early, Alex & Nancy try to get a decent nights sleep, but Connelly listens to the television all night long (the programs she watches include Woody Woodpecker, South Park, Hawaii 5-0 and numerous commercials). The next morning, Alex & Nancy haven't had a wink of sleep and, after Nancy goes to work, Alex is plagued by Connelly to do all her (often unpleasant) chores. The next day, they go shopping and Nancy buys a large Peacock ornament while Alex buys an antique typewriter and a Clapmate system. Alex heads upstairs after Connelly leaves to do errands, and once he has installed the Clapmate system he has to hide in the bathroom when he hears the old woman coming back up the stairs. While she has a bath he escapes by climbing/falling out the window and landing in a huge thorn bush.

At night, Alex claps as loud as he can and Connelly's T.V turns itself off. However, The old woman figures out what the Clapmate system does and claps it on and off all night, much to Alex' chagrin. Their next attempt is to head up to her apartment and sabotage her home by letting gas seep out of her cooker, putting salt in her sugar bowl and re-wiring her electrical settings. When all of these misfortunes backfire on Alex & Nancy, they deliberatly catch the flu and attempt to pass it on to their annoying neighbour. After informing them about a virus that is going around, Connelly tells them that she has recently had a flu shot.

Desperate, the couple hire a hitman to deal with the old hag and, after selling everything they possess to pay the hitman, wait for the job to be done. Connelly defends herself with her husbands antique harpoon and eventually a fire is started. After experiencing a change of heart, Alex & Nancy rescue Connelly and little Dick from the fire and call the fire department.

Alex & Nancy finally decide to evict themselves but find out that the old woman has died just before they leave. They contemplate their strange encounters, while it is revealed that the estate agent who sold them the duplex is the old woman's son and the cop who has been constantly carping the couple is his homosexual partner. They and Connelly (who is revealed to not be dead) do this all the time, harassing young couples and faking Connelly's death while collecting a commission.

Tagline

• Alex and Nancy finally found their dream home...And then they moved in.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Duplex

• Official site
• Duplex at the Internet Movie Database

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