Fresh from appearing in the relatively mediocre romantic comedy Along Came Polly, Ben Stiller teams up with Drew Barrymore to play yuppie couple Alex and Nancy, who are looking for an apartment in New York. After considerable hassle and much disappointment, they find the perfect place, which has, unfortunately, one drawback.

There is an old lady, Mrs Connelly (Eileen Essel), living in a granny flat at the top of the house and one of the conditions of buying the lease is that they leave her there to see out her days. Of course, they are told, she will be no trouble.

Naturally, this is not the case. Mrs C has annoying habits, such as inviting her friends round for raucous parties and playing the television loud at all hours of the night - cue Alex and Nancy thinking up increasingly hair-brained schemes to minimise the problem.

What begins as a neighbour-from-hell comic turn runs out of steam half way and you begin to see it as ageist and sympathies fall firmly on the side of Mrs C, who increasingly is painted as a mad old boiler, particularly when Alex and Nancy decide more drastic solutions are required.

It's a comedy that begins in a wholesome manner, but gradually becomes deficient of ideas and fails to make the best of good performers. Stiller and Barrymore do their best with material that loses inspiration and, with it, laughs.

You might find it funnier if you're moving house.