The Boy Downstairs - A Movie Review

Just because he moved into the flat downstairs doesn’t mean anything.

Moving into theaters in 2017, The Boy Downstairs is about a woman who moves into a flat where her ex lives in the downstairs apartment. Diana and Ben have a choice to make. Either they continue making awkward interactions, or they work out their relationship.

All that got me through this movie was how I was going to thrash it apart in my review. The Boy Downstairs is a rom-com disaster. it’s hard to believe that this movie was messily distributed like this. The film centers around a love story with zero chemistry, cringeworthy dialogue, and questionable editing.

Did the actors receive any direction at all? What was the script like? In what the actors made sense of the script, they kept repeating the same dialogue scene after scene! I should have kept a count of how many times Diana said ‘sorry.’

Diana and Ben (Zosia Mamet and Matthew Shear) are former lovers. They just so happen to move into the same building. With the sloppy way this movie is edited together, I don’t see any chemistry at all!

What’s the lesson about their relationship? Are they exploring the complexities of relationships or detailing how some don’t work and you should move on? I pick the latter half. Diana and Ben shouldn’t be together.

There’s more chemistry between Diana and her friend, Gabby (Diana Irvine). Given that most of their scenes are them complaining about failed relationships, I’d watch a movie involving this pair. The actresses looked too much alike which sometimes confused me.

The Boy Downstairs is awkward like its story. It is so bad to the point that it is comical. That was another reason why I kept watching. The best example involves Diana continuously wandering down to Ben’s apartment only to run into Ben’s new girlfriend, Meg (Sarah Ramos). Meg, hilariously, gets annoyed each time.

Whether it's the forced romantic moments, cringe-inducing dialogue, or the lack of chemistry between the characters, The Boy Downstairs elicits laughter, though likely not the way the filmmakers intended. The drunk overacting was too funny to take seriously.

This movie feels so directionless. Directed by Sophie Brooks, before this film, she directed short films. This film read like one. The dialogue resembles garble written by young teens writing their definition of romance.

Now, let’s talk about the worst element of them all. The film barely makes any sense with the sloppy way it’s put together. The scenes don’t connect. For example, Diana and Meg walk up the steps to their apartment and immediately switch to the next scene with them leaving the house on a different day.

When the movie started, I thought it skipped scenes. It turns out, it’s a film that starts in the middle, which is an effective way to open stories. Okay, here is a tip for flashback scenes. I find it annoying how films think they can accommodate flashbacks if characters have different hairstyles, skip wearing glasses, or shave beards. The flashback scenes are so confusing.

Scenes lack coherence and fail to flow into one another, leaving the audience bewildered and wondering if there was any semblance of a vision behind this cinematic disaster. It's a shame because even a well-written script would struggle to shine amid such inept editing.

The Boy Downstairs lacks depth and a story. It’s not an engaging love story (if that’s what it is). I don't recommend The Boy Downstairs unless you want to check it out to see how funnily bad it is.