User reviews

This movie is weird and disturbing movie when it starts but by the end it proves true to the purpose it is intended to have. The lives of the residents of an apartment building change when the owner is accidentally killed by one of the inhabitant. It take a while to get the hang of the pulse of the movie and it requires a lot of patience. The main protagonist is a loner and a voyeur who misses his ill(mentally) brother from whom he gets his taped messages. Meanwhile he is trying to dispose off the dead body of the owner.

You do not fall in love with its characters or empathize with them but it definitely scares you to see their lives and you pray not to end up like them. But there are few moments when you feel sad for the people portrayed who are stuck in their little world and have distant hopes of escape from it. This movie forces you to confront or at least acknowledge the alienation,apathy,and surrender of some in the modern society who live on it fringe with little expectation of any worthwhile impact on anyone's life other than their own. But still it leaves you with a nice little message about forgiveness , family and the meaning of a well lived life.

You are not going to remember this movie for long but it's decently directed eerie movie for a select few who are patient enough to take a lesson home.

PS: Watch at your own risk.Either you will hate it or you will applaud the efforts for such a real depiction of lives in small apartments!

Clumsy deadbeat Franklin Franklin (Matt Lucas) accidentally kills his landlord. He must do everything in his power to hide the body. He finds the distractions of lust, the death of his beloved brother and a crew of misfit characters, forcing him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.

This is one weird movie. Matt Lucas is a weird white blob of a guy in his tighty whiteys. Juno Temple has a great scene. Dolph Lundgren looks super weird. Just how weird is this? Johnny Knoxville is probably the least weird person in the movie. Add in Rebel Wilson, and this is one weird L.A. apartments complex. Did I say how weird this was? OK then.

The movie in question is a 2012 American black comedy directed by a famous video maker (Jonas Åkerlund) and tells the story of an odd obese Switzerland-fan (Franklin Franklin, distinguishably performed by Matt Lucas) who inadvertently kills his landlord. All the characters - in spite of their rank in society - are strange zanies, and even if briefly on screen, they are catchy thanks to good/distinctive actors such as James Caan, Johnny Knoxville, Billy Crystal, James Marsden, Peter Stormare, Amanda Plummer, Dolph Lundgren - first and foremost.

Apart from crazy moments and depictions, the plot contains several "correct" views on love, friendship, family relations etc, making it hectic and uneven at times, and there are some ending predictability related to the protagonist and bad guys. But as the movie is not long (around 1,5 hours), it is still catchy to watch and you will have your laughs and chuckles.

'Small apartments' is all about its presentation. What we see is a pretty uninteresting story, told to us in a slightly dark, moody, nevertheless humorous, and - in any case - highly original way.

This presentation surely makes 'Small apartments' an unusual film. A good watch, however, for the dullness of the plot is more than compensated by its flawless high-quality acting.

In spite of all this, what remains after wards is a slight feeling of dissatisfaction. With a better plot 'Small apartments' would easily have been at the top.

Unfortunately this is not achieved, so we have to be content with an excellently acted, slightly surrealistic and doubtless original package.

Living life in knee high socks and jockey shorts. Yes a strange, dark but very satisfying movie. You will come away felling better about things. You only get one shot at life. Take it.

That is a question only you can answer. We have to root for a character that has more than one flaw though. Not that other characters portrayed in this movie are without any flaws or doubts themselves. But while it's an ensemble piece our big friend is the one who's playing front and center (tonally and picture wise).

You sometimes wish some characters would have gotten more screen time, like the landlord, who has some very funny but also very offensive things and lines to do in the movie. And while it seems that some of the things are aimed at our protagonist, it's still not the best and smartest decisions he is making during the course of his journey. Dolph Lundgren seems to have fun, but his character could have been fleshed out more. A nice little odd movie then

Yes, it's is a quirky little flick. And yes, it may unnerve (or perhaps irritate) some viewers. But there is no doubt it carves it's own path, and a fairly unique one - which isn't easy to do nowadays.

I'll start by saying that it's a very funny movie at times - in an awkward sort of way. And I enjoyed it just on that level. But after it was over it I realized it had a much more impressive affect on me.

It probably won't be obvious until the end that there was a lot of care put into the direction and dialogue of this movie. Characters who on the surface seem broken and wayward end up being not much different from you and me. Their delivery is different but their longings are the same. And the director did an ace job of making that point. It's done subtly and he timed the peeks into each character's nature perfectly. It really is a very skillful little movie.

If you come across it, check it out, and don't abandon it after five minutes because it seems too odd. It's well worth the run and I'm pleased I saw it, almost thankful actually.

Make you wanna go to Switzerland... :)

It reminds me about Postal - another crazy movie.

These movies are sooo crazy ....

For this one, maybe Little Britain was an source of inspiration :)

Honestly, doesn't matter the rating for these kind of movies - they just can not been taken too seriously, because even they mock of themselves ... but this is needed, an opportunity to get rid of all the crap/tensions/patterns, like a therapy...

I read the novel this film was based upon, back when it was a gift from the author, a family friend. I found myself mentally casting actors to play the amazingly quirky but identifiable characters. A great amount of time passed before "Small Apartments" found its way into the hands of a director who "got it".

I have to say that it is difficult, for me, not to compare this work to that of Tarantino, if only for the raw emotional concept, quirky behaviors and "street view" filming process. However, the combination of Millis (who wrote both the novel and the screenplay) and Akerlund (the director) bring the dark side of everyday humanity into perfect view without glorifying the gore and violence so many filmmakers succumb to. The violence is acceptable, even necessary, as are the few sexual scenes that lend credence to the story and personalities that make up this labor of love. Tarantino's got absolutely nothing on these guys!

The cast is, well... correct! I can't imagine anyone other than the "heavyweights" who breathe life into characters like Franklin Franklin (Matt Lucas), Burt Walnut (Billy Crystal) and Tommy Balls (Johnny Knoxville) but it doesn't stop there. You've got the talent of James Caan, Amanda Plummer, Juno Temple, Dolph Lundgren and veritable unknown, Scott Sheldon, who makes his few moments as Officer Smith a lasting impression. The casting list is mighty and recognizable, but these folks were drawn to the characters created by Millis and the vision of Akerlund, rather than a paycheck.

There is a story, one that compels us to realize how little we understand one another in this all too short existence on the planet and lays bare our preconceptions and misconceptions of who we see and how we react and assign personal judgement. You don't need to be a "deep thinker" to get this film and that's the beauty of it.

The old saying that "money can't buy happiness" is true and untrue... both are addressed in Small Apartments, however, it brings home the very real point that true happiness lives in our mind, however small or large!

I was both eager and apprehensive about finally watching this film, especially knowing the author, screenplay writer and executive producer (Chris Millis) on a personal level... I'm so glad I gave in to eager! Bravo! This is a must see!

This film tells the story of a bald man, who lives in a small apartment with his dog. He dreams of living in the Switzerland, and likes to blow a horn while imagining doing so. One day, he accidentally kills his landlord, and he has to cover it up and dispose of the body.

"Small Apartment" is also light Cindy and it is very funny. Funny scenes include how the landlord dies, how the women opposite him tease him, and the way he disposes of the body. It is just hilarious, but not outrageous. It still manages to be dark at times, because of the sombre subject matter. The vast number of recognisable faces in the film is an added bonus as well. I enjoyed watching it.

This movie isn't very funny, I would classify it as a comedy/drama but the comedy didn't land. Jokes came and went, I couldn't care less because they were not good jokes. Half-decent story, 3rd act was pretty good Also throw that voice over in the trash

Definitely worth watching if you like dark comedies; however, I am not sure it's always meant to be funny. The main character is unique for sure, and at times you find yourself laughing at him, pitying him, and cheering him on - but either way you won't forget him or be disappointed that you spent time out of your day watching him and this strange movie.

You cannot set out to make a "cult film", that is something that just sort of happens. "Small Apartments" directed by Jonus Akerlund tells the story of Franklin Franklin who lives in a seedy apartment and for some reason just goes around in his underwear. His name is "Franklin Franklin" because that kind of sounds quirky like something that would make a good cult movie. Everything in this film is designed to make it live on as a cult movie. He is also bald which sort of gives him the look of an overgrown baby. For one reason or another the film starts out with Franklin in his apartment surrounded by a myriad of empty soda bottles. On the floor is the landlord and he is dead. That is another thing that filmmakers do when they want to make a quirky cult movie, just have somebody dead and the characters don't know what to do with the body. Usually it's a dead stripper and this time it is a dead landlord.

I have never seen a movie that tries so hard to be a dark comedy / Cult film. It tries way too hard to be weird and its just too obvious. It just fails miserably, and it is not particularly funny either. For some reason Billy Crystal is in the film as a detective trying to find out just what happened to the landlord.

Aside from Crystal the film also has James Caan in the cast. Caan plays another tenant of the seedy apartment and all his character does is yell at Franklin in two or three scenes, he literally does NOTHING else. I suppose there is a story behind the fact that Crystal and Caan are in this mess. Maybe they were doing somebody a favor I suppose.

Padding out the cast is Johnny Knoxville as another tenant dressed in 80s punk rock fashion. Rosy Perez is also in it. The movie deals with these wacky characters in this apartment as the detective tries to get to the bottom of what happened. The problem with the characters is that they are not real people, they are "cult film characters".

This is the kind of movie people might say they like hoping it might make them sound edgy or something. I have personally never even heard of this thing until I just happened to see it advertised on Amazon as I was shopping for groceries during the quarantine.

Pass on this one.

I went into watching this movie expecting another indie drama with a big ensemble cast and just enough quirk to be cool with the hipsters. Turns out, this is probably one of the best movies I've seen in years. The plot revolves around Franklin Franklin, a bizarre man living alone in well, a small apartment, and his interactions and excursion with his various neighbors. I completely understand the negative reviews from critics, because the movie isn't perfect, There is some bizarre writing and story choices that might not bode well with audiences, but I honestly think that this movie is, in a way, a masterpiece. The characters all start off weird and somewhat repulsive, but as the movie progresses you begin understanding them and you begin to feel for them. There is rarely a movie that made me feel as much for the characters as I did in this movie. The reason for that is that the acting was fantastic, everyone played their character greatly, and there were little to no weaker parts to the performances. To wrap up, I highly recommend it if you can deal with some weird and bizarre, It's all worth it in the end.

Hiding his landlord's dead body becomes the least of a social miscast's problems in this offbeat indie comedy starring Little Britain's Matt Lucas. Quirky touches frequently abound as Lucas converses with his dog (who talks back!) and converses with his own reflection (which also talks back) though there is also room to wonder how much here is weird simply for the sake of it; there are several shots of Lucas prancing around in his underwear - even outside he never seems to wear pants. There is one very funny, darkly comic moment as his staging of his landlord's death as suicide backfires, however, best moments here belong to the supporting cast with James Caan as a grouchy neighbour, a near-unrecognisable Dolph Lundgren as an eccentric self-help book author and an equally near unrecognisable Peter Storemare as the odious landlord. The film is so reliant on oddball elements though that things fall apart near the end as the narrative takes a sharp, dramatic turn when Lucas discovers some unexpected things about his brother. The final scene also feels terribly banal for a movie that otherwise has originality written all over it. That said, there is a lot to like in how the events of the film indirectly lead to justice being carried out with regards to two supporting characters. The setting is pretty nifty too with 'Rear Window' parallels in plentiful supply, and the film almost serves as a comical spin on the seminal Hitchcock movie with the extreme oblivion of all residents to the landlord's disappearance - and his body being dragged out in full view at night!

An odd movie that never really takes off with a great cast that's wasted.

I saw it in redbox and who was in it - It took a few runs to redbox before I rented.

In the first 15+ minutes I think we just sat there with our mouths open unsure what to think.

It was not enough to punch the eject but - Wow that character is weird is all I will say.

By movie's end I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised, a very good movie that held my interest all the way through.

This is not a bad rent - give it a shot and wait for it to develop. It will not disappoint.

What the actual flip was this? Random in places, in theory the story was quite cool but it just had weirdness thrown in for effect. Matt Lucas playing Matt Lucas at his best. Normally I love him and he did carry this further than it would have managed without him.

I can't remember being so pleasantly surprised at a film in a while. This is just a quirky little movie with interesting and enjoyable characters. The ensemble cast is star studded and they serve the story well. Nicely done.