Duplex (2003)
Starring Ben Stiller, Drew Barrymore, and Eileen Essel.
Directed by Danny DeVito.
Kilgore rates it: 3 (out of 10)
IMDb rates it: 5.7 (out of 10)

Note to self: quit watching movies not made by the Farrelly brothers in which the hero, played by Ben Stiller, suffers steadily mounting misadventures, humiliations, public embarrassments, and other heaping helpings of outrageous fortune. (See also Meet the Parents and Along Came Polly.)

Stiller's squirmer Duplex is a mean-spirited movie about a young couple -- Alex and Nancy -- who buys a house in Brooklyn that comes complete with Mrs. Connelly, an elderly upstairs tenant who pays a rent-controlled $88 per month. The old lady proceeds to drive them crazy in a series of mostly predictable gags. For example, the first time Alex and Nancy enter the Mrs. Connelly's apartment, Alex spies a harpoon gun and picks it up. Do you think it goes off accidentally? Yeah, I know I should have put up a SPOILER! warning up, but if you can't see that one coming, you're too dumb to be using a computer. Anyway, Alex and Nancy stage a series of plots to kill Mrs. Connelly. Do you think they go hilariously awry? Isn't it time for your seizure medication?

Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy (2001)
Starring Ron Jeremy.
Directed by Scott J. Gill.
Kilgore rates it: 5 (out of 10)
IMDb rates it: 6.6 (out of 10)

Anybody who has watched any porn at all has seen Ron Jeremy, or at least the 9½" part of him that answers succinctly the question "How is it possible that a man who looks like a toad has had sex with over 4,000 women?" Porn Star is a mildly amusing documentary seeking to reveal the man behind the money shot. The film manages to plumb some depth, showing us a chronically dissatisfied and lonely man with a degree in theatre who still craves mainstream acting success. (The only thing stopping him, in my estimation, is his lack of acting skill.) Too often Porn Star veers into MTV Documentary Land, overusing tiresome interviews with low-voltage celebrities and clips of frat guys shouting "Ron Jeremy is da maaaaaan!" Also, the film tells nothing about how Ron actually broke into porn, aside from a photo in Playgirl, and mostly misses the chance to give the interesting behind-the-scenes information about the porn business that I had hoped to find. (Although Ron does vent about male porn actors who rely on Viagra, and reveals that a good "woodsman" should avoid orgasm for two days before a scene.)

+posted by Lawrence @ 4/22/2004 10:55:00 PM