The Roommate (Screen Gems)
Better To Room Alone
The Roommate is one of the most formulaic movies to come out of Hollywood in some time. The movie stars Leighton Meester (Country Strong) and Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) as roommates at a California college. One of them is sane and one of them is badly disturbed. It doesnt take long to discover which is which, but it seems to take a long, long time to get it all resolved. While getting there everything you expect and know will happen does.
Sara (Kelly) is a bright, outgoing girl who likes to make friends and have fun. Her roommate, Rebecca (Meester) suffers from the essives She is possessive, obsessive and excessive. She wants Sara to be her friend and hers alone and she will do anything and everything to make sure this happens.
Being Rebeccas friend puts some of Saras other friends in jeopardy. This includes her party girl friend Tracy (Alyson Michalka) and her boyfriend Stephen (Cam Gigandet). Why these two dont quickly realize Rebecca is a problem is one of the flaws of the film.
All the clichs are in this film. These include the isolated shower room in the dorm; the low lighting in most of the apartments; and the almost stupid unawareness of Sara. It is all leading to a slug it out climax to the movie but by the time it occurs very few will care.
Meester and Kelly are okay in their roles but they arent really challenged in any way. Another problem with the movie is that the two stars look so much alike. It is hard to tell one from the other. You can certainly understand why Jason (Matt Lanter), Saras ex-boyfriend, is fooled by Rebecca into thinking she is Sara.
The film is rated PG-13 for violence and profanity. With this rating the film holds back on any real scares, and this also makes the movie less fun.
If you want to see a horror film, there are a million or more to choose from at any given time. You dont want to bother with this lukewarm thriller that is more boring than scary. At one time this movie might have made some sort of impact but the basic plot has been done to death in movies and on TV.
I scored The Roommate a transferred 4 out of 10.
