Apartment Troubles (2014)

Directors: Jennifer Prediger, Jess Weixler
Writers:    Jennifer Prediger, Jess Weixler
Cast:         Jennifer Prediger, Jess Weixler,Megan Mullally

Two codependent roommates, on the verge of eviction, flee New York for the promise of sunshine in Los Angeles where their friendship is tested by a chance at fame, a fortune teller and an amorous wealthy aunt.

It is basically a remake of Bruce Robinson's 'Withnail & I' with female protagonists in stead of male and English settings changed to America. It also kind of reminded me of Noah Baumbach's 'Frances Ha' with its hipster New-York settings and similar kind of issues for the protagonist. Even though you feel the two characters in 'Apartment Troubles' are kind of hipsters initially, that goes out of the window pretty soon when you learn that they really have trouble behaving like adults and are confused as hell. One of them is an adopted child from a very rich family who are trying to avoid her now due to her eccentric nature. So you have the two characters choosing not to use electricity in their apartment as part of setting an environmentalist example while at the same time having no trouble in using a private jet to travel to LA from NY. Film goes through without exactly pinning itself down to a particular genre and can be best described as a light comedy. By the time they reach LA and the aunt starts coming on to her niece's friend, you realize what is going on with the film with respect to its similarities with 'Withanail & I'. It is basically the same film with some inversion of sex and geography.

Overall  it is a good light watch even though it does really push the audience into disinterest at some points. Film doesn't even have a Wikipedia page and I guess it is just about as Indie as you can get. It is a decent enough watch even if you have seen Withnail & I and is much less darker especially when it comes to the ending. The poverty is also much starker in the original film.

Rating: 3/5