I don’t mind dark comedies, I’ve seen a lot of them, some of them have been really good (Serial Mom, War of the Roses), and then there are the dark comedies that just shouldn’t be made (Death to Smoochy). “Duplex” is another one of them. With a plot right off of a sitcom, and with a script written with such a mean spirit and sense of disgust, we meet young couple Alex Rose (Ben Stiller) and Nancy Kendricks (Drew Barrymore). The two up and comers are nitpicking looking for a house. After a really cheesy set-up from director Danny Devito, the two finally stumble upon a really old but beautiful house which they discover has two floors and the second floor is being lived in by a little old woman Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essel) who is a seemingly sweet lady but cannot be kicked out because she’s on rent control.
Tag Archives: D
Down with Love (2003)
“Down with Love” has the right intentions; it’s a throwback to the old Kim Novak and Rock Hudson romantic comedies from the sixties; the hip, groovy, fluffy as a marshmallow, and very colorful romantic comedies were sometimes very entertaining, and while “Down with Love” has all the ingredients of a satire, this is never sure whether it really is a satire or a spoof. A satire is an amusing jab at a topic, a spoof is making fun of a topic and unfortunately, “Down with Love” jumps from one genre to the other so constantly throughout the progression of the film that it makes your head spin. Barbara Novak is a brutal young go-getter, a tough ballsy female writer for a magazine, a female pioneer in a male dominated society who has written a book called “Down with Love” which breaks down and analyzes all the tricks men pull with women, but can’t get it published.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell (2002)
I’m among the legions of fans who grew up on cable television watching the geniuses at “Mystery Science Theater 3000” (Don’t know it? Look it up), or as we people in the know call it “MST3K” spoof films like “The Mole People” and “The Horror at Party Beach”. Yeah, it’s official I’m a nerd. Anyway, I spent many a long day watching Servo, Crow, and Mike watch bad movies only to trash them with their witty one-liners which often made me laugh, so when I was chosen to view the newest gag film “Don’t ask Don’t Tell”, I was more than willing to discover what lay ahead of me. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is a spoof, but it also becomes its own entity in the process as a film within a film. The people at “Refried Flicks” take the 1954 junk heap “Killer’s from Space”, an old schlock science fiction film directed by legendary director Billy Wilder’s younger brother W. Lee Wilder which starred Peter Graves and re-dub it, add new comedic scenes and masterfully edit this old piece of junk.
Daddy Day Care (2003)
Eddie Murphy’s career continues its downhill slope into oblivion with this bad and bland re-tread of “Mr. Mom.” Taking it’s cue from “Mr. Mom”, Charlie Hinton is fired from his job as an advertising exec when his department shuts down, and now he and his friend Phil are out of work and must stay home to take care of their children and are forced to be father’s again. But when they begin getting desperate to get back to work, they decide to market taking care of children and begin a daycare center despite the fact they have no real qualifications nor are they ever asked by the parents. In a skewed attempt they begin taking care of children and engage in various derivative scenes involving toilet humor, relying on children’s amusing qualities to draw laughter, and the usual falling over stuff for comedy.
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Written while King was recovering from his tragic accident in which he was hit by a car, “Dreamcatcher” follows many of the themes of his traumatic event, even featuring a main character being violently hit by a car in the middle of the road. It’s unfortunate for King, that “Dreamcatcher” is one of his many onscreen misses. “Dreamcatcher” is a formula gone horribly wrong with plot elements and a story so contrived that it’s hard to watch this while not thinking about other stuff this borrows from. Borrowing from John Carpenter’s variation of “The Thing”, four men go up to a cabin in the woods to meet after years of separation and must take on an alien entity that can possess bodies; and borrowing from “Invasion of the body snatchers”, many people are getting overtaken by an alien that uses spores to enter one’s body and take over them.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
In 1978, George A. Romero followed up his classic “Night of the Living Dead” with an even bigger horror hit known as “Dawn of the Dead” this time showing the world only weeks after the outbreak where society is now overrun by the undead and carnage ensues as people struggle to comprehend what is happening and how it happened. True, director Zack Snyder’s re-working of “Dawn” is a lot slicker than the original, but ultimately it lacks the truly sick and sometimes twisted satire and jabs at pop culture and the consumer era.
Das Experiment (The Experiment) (2001)
Based on a true story, the “Stanford Prison Experiment”, some of the scenes of which are featured are actually based on true events during the experiment, the German originated thriller “Das Experiment” gives a true glimpse into the human psyche. There’s this great Looney Tunes episode (aren’t they all?) in which a truck filled with hats falls off the back and scatters along the forest where Elmer Fudd happens to be chasing Bugs Bunny; while they’re in pursuit, the hats happen to fall onto their heads and they take on the characteristics of the hats (Ex: Cop hat: Policeman, Magician Hat: Magician); why I bring up such an obscure pop culture reference is that “Das Experiment” poses the question that that cartoon did, “If put in a particular role for a certain number of time will we act upon the role?”