Apartment 12 Movie Review

Bottom line: This is a pretty standard grade indie romantic comedy: A little bit sexy, a little bit funny, and a little bit mean. That's not a bad thing, and two top-notch performances from leads Mark Ruffalo and Beth Ulrich.

The setup posits Ruffalo as Alex, a painter/pizza guy who's on the verge of making it big -- or so he thinks. After vocally quitting his job, Alex finds his show cancelled and his life on hold. Soon enough his model girlfriend has dumped him and he's living in a ramshackle apartment building populated by weirdos (dude in a robe constantly, stripper in a variety of costumes), and fate eventually lands him in the arms of the girl across the hall, a former soldier named Lori (Ulrich). Alex and Lori have absolutely nothing in common. In a nutshell, he's a pretentious asshole and she's barely functional in modern society, lacking even a basic understanding of three-syllable vocabulary words.

And yet, opposities attract, right? Especially in the movies, and Alex and Lori begin an amusing on-again/off-again affair. Again, nothing new here, but Ruffalo has a natural charm in roles like this that makes him pitch perfect in the part. But an even bigger surprise is Ulrich, an actress who hasn't made a single movie since this one five years ago. Why not? She's engaging and very sexy yet not your typical bimbo in appearance. Ulrich nearly holds her own with Ruffalo here, and though the script makes her a touch too idiotic (there's no way the army would have let her enlist), she does an awful lot with the part.

Director Dan Bootzin is another big unknown. This was his feature debut, and he's yet to make another movie. Give him some cash, Ruffalo, and a Jennifer Aniston next time and let him loose. Hell, make Ulrich the best friend while you're at it.

Aka Life/Drawing.