Amore in affitto

Alex (Mark Ruffalo) thinks the world is his oyster at this moment. He is about to have an art showing at a Los Angeles gallery and he shares a beautiful home with a lovely lady. Alas, the gallery manager cancels his show just as Alex says sayonara to his pizza delivery job. Then, in short order, his girlfriend breaks things off by dumping his stuff on the street and leaving a note on the door. Scrambling, the struggling painter finds an apartment in a rundown complex with a wide variety of nutcase tenants. One of them brings a Spam casserole on his first night, ugh. Yet, Alex keeps painting and soon meets a fellow tenant, Lori (Beth Ulrich) who is quite cute but has interests totally dissimilar to his. They have a brief "thing" but are they truly made for each other? Then, too, at a low point, Alex gets an inspiration for a new style of painting. Will this result in his big break? This offbeat romcom has some great ideas which don't quite fully bloom. Ruffalo and Ulrich, nevertheless, and the unknown secondary cast are funny and charming. The seedy sets of LA contrast with the poshier places but the direction slows the pace too much at times. But, if YOU, like ME, get desperate for an unseen romantic comedy now and again, drop by Apartment 12.