Monday, May 02, 2011
Michael Allen
Writers: Sonny Malhi.
Production Company Screen Gems have had their hits and misses. Lakeview Terrace (2008) was a notable thriller and The Messengers (2007) offered a scare or two. Yet, Screen Gems has also produced some bombs, including the [Rec] remake Quarantine (2008) and the Underworld series of films have almost been entirely forgettable to this reviewer. On a side note, unbelievably they are making a fourth film, titled Underworld 4: New Dawn. Well, The Roommate falls into this latter quality. Releasing on DVD and Blu-ray May 17th, Sonny Malhi's (The Strangers) first script is absolutely terrible and if the film could be summed up in one word it would be - fluff.
Apparently, Malhi and Denmark born director Christian E. Christiansen have never seen a horror film, nor a thriller. Most of the brutality occurs off-screen, which is not a bad strategy to use, if your intention is to build tension, or to offer doubt in the antagonist's intentions. Sadly, the action seems to take place off screen to dumb down the production. Scenes were not shot or excluded to find a PG-13 rating, from the review board. This makes much of The Roommate overly tame and unsuitable for most horror fans.
After thirty minutes of watching this silly film, you will begin to get a sense of the absolute waste of time the first act is. Two college dorm mates talk about Loius Vuitton and attending fashion shows. Meanwhile, this reviewer was wondering if he was watching an episode of Fashion Television. Tension and suspense are simply exchanged for shallowness and time wasting. The result is a boring time and this film is simply a missed opportunity.
Usually the climax comes at the end, but this reviewer would like to end this screening at the beginning, because the ending of this film is laughable. As mentioned, no discernible thrills or excitement come from the first thirty minutes of the film. Malhi has absolutely no sense of what a hook is, nor how to develop interesting characters, as noticed by Scott Weinberg of Fearnet: "he [Malhi] has no real human characters to care about." Thus, The Roommate turns into a sleeper, suitable for burgeoning adolescents only, as the film's first half is more dramatic romance than psychological thriller. There are no horror tones here.
This is your warning not to see this film. The Roommate is a powder puff piece of one woman stalking another, with little actual conflict to show between Rebecca (Leighton Meester) and Sara (Minka Kelly). The film is not truly suitable for anyone. Although no film is truly worthless, as Weinberg believes of the film: "[a] worthless movie experience," (Fearnet), this film is best used as a drink coaster, or as a what-not-to-do in film. Skip this film at all costs.
Story/writing/plot: 5 (if you have seen the trailer, then you have seen the film, no surprises here).
Characters/believability: 5 (could not care less about these cardboard cutouts).
Climax/denouement: 5 (anyone can see this train wreck coming a mile before it impacts, get off before then).
Overall: 5 out of 10 (this film gets all of the basics of filmmmaking correct e.g. no dubbing, lights on, cameras rolling, so it automatically gets a minimum score of 5).
*unbelievably this film made $32 million in theatres, on duped movie goers.
*a remake of Single White Female.
A second negative review of this soon to be dollar binned film:
The Roommate Reviewed by Scott Weinberg at Fearnet
Other, better films mentioned in this review are here:
Advertise Here - Contact me Michael Allen at 28DLA
| | | | |
Subscribe to 28 Days Later: An Analysis by Email
Posted in: 2011,christian e. christiansen,horror movie review,leighton meester,minka kelly,movie review,sonny malhi
0 comments:
Post a Comment