The Apartment Blog

The Apartment's premise actually worked for me and the creative use of Bud's apartment as a cooperate love nest was an interesting hook. To be completely honest, The Apartment did not impress or excite me, mostly because the story and characters felt tired and uninteresting.

I have read many bloggers who find Bud amusing because of his sarcastic, dry humor and yet for me I find that wit does not make a character. Perhaps if I could see Jack Lemmon tackle the role I would be able to enjoy the character more, but as he is written, Bud was perplexing for me. I didn't understand his motivations for desiring a bigger office space, as he seemed neither ambitious nor driven. Personally, when he wasn't boring, he was creepy...the suicide story? Big turn off. Guys, never bring up a story like that when you've got a half-naked girl in your apartment. And while you're at it, don't pick up married women for one-night stands in a movie where everything so far has pointed to you being a nice guy.

Fran was the ideal chick flick heroine who can't help but fall for the bad guys (think Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Terminal, Perry Gilpin in Frasier, Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility...) but besides her suicidal tendancies, she is simply cute and perfect. While watching a movie (or in this case, reading a screenplay) I prefer to see women who are shadows of real-life human beings. Perhaps Wilder was making the point that men like Bud see cutsey women as perfect, but a girl who is individualistic, sassy, vulnerable, attractive, witty AND is able to clean a man's socks at a moment's notice using a sock stretcher? I don't buy it.

I actually found some of the dialogue to be amusing, such as Bud's desire for a bowler hat and his office co-workers' wittisicms ("Why do all you dames have to live in the Bronx?" "You mean you bring other girls up here?" "Of course not. I'm a happily married man."). And yet the script loses its focus at key moments, the best example of which is the ending: "Shut up and deal."

As in many modern romantic comedies, The Apartment is diverting, but does not engage and has little substancial merit. Put up next to several rom-coms of this past year (Good Luck Chuck, The Heartbreak Kid, You Me and Dupree, shall I continue?) it looks a little better but a house (or apartment?) built on paper thin characters and a predictable plot cannot stand. The movie may be entertaining for the chick flick crowd but it's simply not for me.

Bethany Dickens

Discussion Questions:
1. Out of the 80 Best Picture Winners from the Academy Awards on Rottentomatoes.com, The Apartment ranked 48 and was described as having "aged poorly." Do you think this is true? Would The Apartment still have won the Academy Award for Best Picture and/or Screenplay if it was released today?
2. Do you think the scene with Mr. Sheldrake with his boys on Christmas Day was necessary, or should the scene have cut straight to his phone call with Bud? Was it extraneous or interesting to you?