The Boy Downstairs Review ★★★

Diana (Zosia Mamet) leaves New York and her boyfriend, Ben (Matthew Shear). A few years later, she is back in the city, a struggling writer looking for a new apartment. She finds the perfect place to live, but there’s one complication: it turns out Ben lives downstairs.
★★★
The lightness of Sophie Brooks’ debut is both key to its charm and keeps it from making more than a very gentle impression. It’s a romantic comedy with very appealing characters, but no real stakes. At the beginning, we see Diana (Zosia Mamet) say goodbye to her boyfriend Ben (Matthew Shear) as she prepares to leave New York. Flashing forward several years, we find Diana back in town and moving in to a new apartment, completely unaware that Ben is her downstairs neighbour.

It’s a love story that’s entertaining to eavesdrop on.
Brooks elegantly uses split timelines to tell the story of how Diana and Ben got together, how they broke up, and how they might reunite. She doesn’t labour it or over-explain, but just lets her viewer catch up. There are times when it’s initially unclear which timeframe we’re in, but she leaves gentle clues to quickly catch us up. It’s a world where matters of the heart seem the only concern. Both Diana and Ben are aspiring writers, but can afford large apartments in a beautiful Manhattan townhouse. Most days seem to be spent getting coffee or chatting with the landlady. If the set-up is gently high-concept, so is its world.

Mamet, whose performance in the TV show Girls is so indelible that it’s always a surprise to hear her speak without an airy, Valley Girl accent, is completely adorable in the lead role. She finds just the right amount of self-awareness to Diana, who is a bit of a mess and maybe making bad decisions, but knows it while she’s doing it. The pull between her and Ben never feels life-changing. You never get the sense they need to be together, which makes the whole thing seem ultimately inconsequential, but it feels like it might be nice if they were. It’s a love story that’s entertaining to eavesdrop on, even if you might not give it another thought once they’re out of earshot.

Zosia Mamet is the major selling point here. In a film that’s lovely but unlikely to prove memorable, she shows she can carry a film with immense charm.