April 22, 2011
Cast: Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Cam Gigandet
Director: Christian E Christensen
Leighton Meester, who stars as spoilt little rich girl Blair Waldorf in the Gossip Girl series, slums it out as a nutjob collegian obsessed with another female student in the insultingly dumb teen thriller The Roommate. A worthy contender for Most Unoriginal Movie of the Year, this lame Single White Female rip-off sees Meester’s clingy character, Rebecca develop a dangerous crush on her roomate Sara (played by Minka Kelly), who has just moved to this Los Angeles campus from a small town.
Sorely lacking any tension or suspense, and devoid of a single original plot-point, the film regurges the same ol’ formula all over again. So Rebecca — desperate for Sara’s attention, and jealous of anyone or anything that is close to her — goes on a violent spree torturing boyfriends both ex and current, murdering a pet cat, and punishing a male professor who hit on her roomie. There’s some girl-on-girl kissing, a mild lovemaking scene between Sara and her new boyfriend, and a phone-sex scene involving Rebecca. Normally such gratuitous sex would ease the pain of watching this kind of dreadful film; but The Roommate is so appallingly bad, it’s hard to find a single redeeming quality.
I’m going with one out of five for The Roommate; it’s a badly written, badly acted, and badly directed thriller that offers no thrills whatsoever. Stay home and stare at the ceiling instead. This film is a waste of time and money.
(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)