If Duplex were a real-estate property, Miramax producers might have thought twice before investing in a project built on such a shaky foundation. Produced in 2003, this 89-minute-long comedy only reached Chinese theaters this year. Likely to produce forced smiles than real laughs, this film is mercifully short, for which thanks is due to director Danny de Vito. The two-level apartment story lacks both a clear blueprint and quality material. A young, New York-based professional couple, played by Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore, finds their dream home in the form of the downstairs half of a Brooklyn duplex. Unfortunately, their neighbor is a nightmare. Unlike de Vito’s The War of the Roses (1989), Duplex ignores the fact that good comedy is anchored by truth. Instead of offering believable characters in exaggerated circumstance, it relies on a plot twist that rings false. De Vito tries (and fails) to plaster over the holes in the plot with cheap filler. The flick flopped in the US, and Barrymore (deservedly) won the 2004 Worst Actress Razzie Awards for her tasteless performance. Miramax

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
April 2006 issue



(c) that's Guangzhou
Guanzhou Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
April 2006 issue