MovieChat Forums > Duplex (2003) Discussion > i cant imagine how this could have been ...

i cant imagine how this could have been worse

posted 18 years ago by bryan-414
14 replies | jump to latest

omg -- what a terrible movie. It as nothing to do with it being dark or black -- it is just stupid stupid stupid. That they buy a place and dont see the upstairs first is the first indicator of how dumb this is. And -- where do they get the money from? The cop -- the huge TV -- they fact that they simply dont just tell her to turn the damn TV down and WHY WHY WHY do they do here errands? This just not make any sense-- if they had just behaved normally -- then she would not have been annoying and there would have been NO movie-- which would have been a good start

[–] silvershine-1 18 years ago

It's just a movie, calm down. Maybe you should stick to non-fiction movies if unrealistic stretches piss you off so much.

[–] bckesler 18 years ago

"It's just a movie, calm down. Maybe you should stick to non-fiction movies if unrealistic stretches piss you off so much."

But, even a fiction movie should have a sense of reality. Drew Barrymoore and Ben Stiller's characters are just idiots. Their stupidity is over the top and the plot is so set on getting certain things done that it sacrifices good judgement in order to get a laugh or two. Dumb movie.

Not a Day Goes By.

[–] craigman 18 years ago

I agree with the first and third poster.
This movie was an awful piece of crap.
I didn't come close to laughing even once.
NONE of the characters were likable at all.
The "plot" didn't make any sense at all.
Why the elaborate plot to make some unwitting couple try to buy the property, and then put them through hell for no good reason?
What if the couple actually succeeded in killing the horrible old woman?
This was written by Danny deVito, who proves yet again he cannot make a good comedy.
Also, why does stupid Drew Barrymore keeping getting movie roles?
-Craig

[–] pathighgate 18 years ago

Spot on.

Of course, the basic plot of the movie could have been made to work. Somebody could have sat down with the script and said "Okay, no reasonable person would ever do this. Let's rewrite this bit so it makes sense".

But that didn't happen. Yes, it's a work of fiction, but an audience can't be expected to believe that two educated New Yorkers act and make decisions as if they were mentally challenged.

There are so many unbelievable actions that take place in this movie, not to mention gaping plot holes and omissions that the entire work quickly becomes a chore to watch instead of entertainment.

Easily one of the worst movies of '03

[–] g_tb 18 years ago

THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW, SO, PLEASE, IF YOU DIDN'T WATCH THIS MOVIE YET, DON'T READ THIS.

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OK now. Here I go.

Actually, there was a good reason, craigman. They put the couple/person thru' hell because they wanted 'em to quit the house, and then they could put another person in, and they would get more money!

They could not kill the old woman, 'cause she's was ready for it. Anyone would try to kill her - I mean, anyone normal - as it happened before, so it was predicted.

Well, they didn't ask Mrs. Connelly to turn the TV down 'cause even if they asked, she wouldn't turn it down. Their objective is to make their life a hell! I bet you didn't understand the movie purpose.

This movie was perfect! I don't know where you guys found defects on it, 'cause I don't see 'em! I mean, no movie is perfect, but this movie was very clever in my opinion.

Poor DeVito... trying to do something good, so can everyone enjoy, but...

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[–] asa-tolke 18 years ago

Seriously...

Who would be afraid of making the upstairs neighbour upset, when her moving out would be the greatest of news? (All they ever did was tip toe around her and try to please her in every way.)

Who would let water leak out and make stains and mildew, just so that there would be a slight chance of the upstairs neighbour to fall to her death when your ceiling caved in? (That is one great way to make your own apartment worthless!!)

What intelligent author of a novel does not do backups?

And why did said author, when working at home did not work out, wait six weeks before relocating to Star Bucks?

[–] eamontoplease-1 11 years ago

Correction: Larry Doyle wrote the film.

[–] spookvile0803 18 years ago

It's quite a challege to be calm when you feel like you've wasted both your time and money on some stupid dumb movie.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] RickPatricku 18 years ago

I can't believe I wasted my time to watch this.

[–] Klinebeachbum 18 years ago

This was the dumbest movie I've ever seen. I left the room because it was so painful to watch and only heard about the ending. When my friends told me how it ended, all I could do was gape in awe. SOOOO dumb.

"You are...subglacious!"
"What in Glaux's name is subglacious?"
"No idea, I made it up."

[–] tesnoodle 17 years ago

i watched this on bbc one last night atlike 11pm and i thought it was fun, didnt try to do anything out of the ordinary just raisea few smiles here and there which it did for me, people finding defects in simple comedies designed not to win awards just to make people smile from time to time make me laugh. and so i am, laughing!

[–] Rob_P 17 years ago

Without a doubt, this movie sucked big time.

It was an insult to any audience to expect them to suspend so much disbelief for 89 minutes.

As of writing, Larry Doyle doesn't have that many credits to his name. Just look at what he has written... shame on him.

This smacked of straight-to-video/dvd to me.

There is nothing redeeming about this movie.

It took the very worst deleted scenes from The Money Pit and also Pacific Heights and put them together in slap dash confusion and called it a black comedy.

Pathetic.

What's worse is that I sat through the whole movie thinking that it HAD to get better...

... more fool me.

[–] 17 years ago

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