| Director | Danny DeVito |
|---|---|
| Budget | $40 million |
| Box office | $19.3 million |
Young, New York couple Alex and Nancy are sick of their tiny apartment in The City and are searching for their dream home.
They find a Brooklyn brownstone duplex that is perfect, except for the elderly tenant upstairs: Mrs. Connelly, an old Irish lady who lives on the rent-controlled top floor. Assuming she won't live long, they buy the house.
Mrs. Connelly complains about the plumbing; blasts her television at all hours; and rehearses her dancing and brass band; so, the couple is soon sleep deprived and exhausted.
A novelist, Alex is struggling to meet his latest deadline, or have his contract cancelled.
When she can't get Alex, Mrs. Connelly calls Nancy at work; so, she can't work either.
The dream is becoming a nightmare. They can't get her to move; their noise complaint is countered by Mrs. Connolly's harassment charge against them. The couple attempts to kill her multiple times. They try to give her the flu after that got it, however, she tells them that she just had a flew shot. Alex pretends that he is fixing her pipes. He is actually making them leak. Once the ceiling (her floor) is damaged enough, they anticipate that she will fall through and die. The ceiling caves in but she does not fall. For the last attempt, they both sneak into her apartment to smother her with a pillow. However, she is awake and informs them that they will not will.
Exhausted and desperate they hire a hitman, which will cost everything they have, who finally arrives on Christmas Eve.
In a desperate fight, with a speargun, the building catches fire from a fireplace that was one of the building's main selling points.
But, Nancy and Alex can't leave the old lady to die in the fire and rescue her.
With no other options, they sell the house, only to find that Mrs. Connelly has passed away, in her sleep, as they leave.
In an epilogue, it turns out that this has been a long-running real estate scam. The realtor is Mrs. Connelly's son, and the police officer, his partner.
Mrs. Connelly fakes her own death so the mark won't return.
Alex and Nancy were their latest victims, amongst many.
Alex and Nancy relocate to the Bronx. Alex uses their unpleasant experience as inspiration for his next book entitled Duplex.
A final voice-over says that "Alex and Nancy's dream house may have been too good to be true, but did they live happily ever after? Well, read the book."