240. The Boy Downstairs; movie review

THE BOY DOWNSTAIRS
Cert 12A
91 mins
BBFC advice: Contains moderate sex references, infrequent strong language

Are all the young women who live in New York City hopeless in love?
I ask because over the years I have seen dozens of movies about women who are not able to decide what they want from relationships and they all seem to live in the Big Apple.
Sophie Brooks' The Boy Downstairs is nearly an hour and a half of its lead character, Diana (Zosia Mahmet) messing up on love.
First she wants a boyfriend, then she doesn't, then she does, then she doesn't and then she does.
No wonder that the subject of her mixed messages, a chap called Ben (Matthew Shear), is both frustrated and confused.
Diana, with her thick hypnotic eyebrows, sums up the conflicts that invade the mind during romance among twentysomethings.
Dilemmas over living space, jobs, travel and Mr Right all come to the fore during The Boy Downstairs.
And, fortunately, it fares better than most movies of its ilk because Diana is less irritating than similar movie characters.
The lure here is greater because Diana recognises her own foibles and ends up metaphorically kicking her own backside throughout the film.
Meanwhile, Shear is a fine foil, playing her an ex-boyfriend who suddenly finds himself as his former love's neighbour with a combo of deadpan and bewilderment.
In addition, there are a bunch of quirky asides which give the film its verve.
Some have claimed that The Boy Downstairs is a modern day Harry Met Sally and I can see what they mean but much of the humour of that relationship hinged on the two central figures being so sure of themselves.
Here they are the opposite and it is their metaphorical own goals which make The Boy Downstairs feel warm and believable and prompt me to want to see more of Zosia Mahmet.

Reasons to watch: A quirky and engaging lead by Zosia Mahmet
Reasons to avoid: I can't see many older people going for it

Laughs: Chuckles rather than laughs
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10

Director quote - Sophie Brooks: "I was definitely writing about my experience living in New York. I’ll definitely write down things in my regular life if I think something is really funny, and kind of put it in my catalogue of things to put in a movie one day."

The big question - Are all young women in New York so lovelorn?

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