The Roommate

Movies like this get a bad rap because you know exactly whats going to happen.

But this was shot in a film-noir style and didn't resort to being a slasher-esque movie, unknown foreign director christensen builds the suspense up well, there's nothing long winded here and the 90 minute running time is perfectly paced.

No harm that all the characters are easy on the eye, and while no-one stood out, there wasn't any cringeworthy or cheesy performances.

Its unfair to compare this to other "obsession" movies, I feel this film stands out on its own and is a solid thriler much better than the 4.5 rating on here

Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) is starting her freshman year of college at ULA. Upon arrival, she meets Tracy Morgan (Alyson Michalka), an avid party-goer, and Stephen Morterelli (Cam Gigandet), a drummer who plays in a band for a fraternity who later begins to date Sara. After a party at Stephen's fraternity house that lands Tracy drunk, Sara arrives back at her dorm late at night and meets Rebecca Evans (Leighton Meester), her new roommate, whose parents live only 20 minutes away and who is great at drawing portraits of people. Initially, the girls begin to bond very well as Rebecca learns more about Sara's life. Sara had an older sister, Emily, who died when Sara was nine. She keeps a necklace that belonged to Emily as well as her sister's name tattooed on her chest.

She also has an ex-boyfriend, Jason (Matt Lanter), who keeps calling her to try to get back together with her.The history behind their breakup is that Jason and Sara agreed to both go to Brown University or not, and when only Sara got a spot, she declined it and chose ULA. However, when Jason got accepted to Brown at the last minute, he accepted to go without Sara, reneging on their agreement. Against dorm regulations, the two girls secretly adopt a stray kitten which Sara found. As time goes on, though, Rebecca begins to become more obsessed with spending time with Sara and wants to have her all to herself. She is willing to keep at bay anyone who wronged Sara or who she thinks is stealing Sara away from her....

The Roommate is your run of the mill thriller. There is absolutely nothing new or original here. The film slowly builds up to reveal that a certain character is the "bad guy", well, it builds up to reveal how bananas the character truly is because, you know from the beginning where each character stands, and then comes the action which is predictable and not very exciting. The acting wasn't bad although I wish Minka Kelly had a little more personality.She's great too look at but she's also somewhat boring. Leighton Meester did a fine job. All in all it's a decent little film, but I wouldn't waste my time on it.

6/10

It's nice when you're presented with a thriller that the majority of people can relate to. Moving off to college, nervous with jitters, and not knowing who your first college roommate might be. You ask yourself questions like, "Will my roommate be clean and neat? Will we get along? Will they respect my property? " It's a role of the dice that doesn't seem too disappointing for most. What most can't relate to is the question "Is my new roommate a demented psychopath who wants to steal my identity?" Then finding out it's true. That is the case in this rainbow version of the 1992 classic film 'Single White Female.' The film starts with our main character Sarah Matthews (Minka Kelly) moving into her dorm. Sarah is starting to build relationships with other housemates, but they seem paper-thin. Still in the opening credits the acting starts becoming awkward from introductions that are in no way realistic. If you're shopping at Wal-Mart and someone drives they're shopping cart into yours, I don't think everyone will smile then introduce him or herself happily.

After a while we learn Sarah is a design major. Unlike her other classmates she has style something that all the money in the world can't buy according to her Design 101 instructor. Moving along, Sarah goes to a frat party with some of her new friends to get a feel of life away from home without a curfew. She meets a guy whose pick up lines in the real world would come off as lame and stalker like, but for some reason it's acceptable here. After the party, some of the guests are too intoxicated to make it home alone, so they're escorted back to their dorms. This is where we meet the ROOMMATE Rebecca (Leighton Meester.) Rebecca comes across innocent at first with no real reason for you to think otherwise. While the plot centers on Rebecca being obsessed with Sarah wanting to steal her identity, art is one thing they genuinely have in common. So Rebecca can draw art very well and that's all we get to know about her character other than she lives 20 minutes away and her parents are filthy rich and they don't get along. While Sarah and Rebecca are getting acquainted as roommates, Sarah begins to display her particular taste in life and Rebecca is taking mental notes. It feels like a friendship is starting to build until little by little Rebecca starts to mimic Sarah's behavior from illustrations of Sarah's favorite movie to copying her hair color. After a while, like any normal person, Sarah rations her time away with other friends from the college. This is where the s*^# starts to hit the fan. Rebecca of course doesn't like this and starts to become envious of everyone that is taking the time of her so called BFF. Like I said the psychotic behavior is starting to erupt but this is also the main problem of the film.

Rebecca is becoming jealous so she starts doing every SHE can think of to gain Sarah's attention again for her own psychotic gain. They range from body mutilation, harassing Rebecca's friends, and harming animals in a way that can't be imagined. I can only count a number of incidents towards Rebecca's insanity and in doing so her actions are left unresolved. There's really no aftermath to any of her behavior except one occasion where she manipulates Sarah's design instructor, but that was completely justified. It does take away from the point of the film. I wanted to be thrilled and turn in my seat, but I hardly moved. So much was left unanswered regarding Rebecca's behavior and back-story that instead of being scary the film turned into a comedy. When individuals lash out it's more entertaining to know where they came from and what exactly sent them over the edge. Jason was drowning while campers had sex, Freddy was burned alive for being a pedophile, and "The Count of Monte Cristo" was imprisoned for 13 years for crimes he did not commit. Those were justified. Why is Rebecca so crazy? It's not because her parents didn't love her. We're just told she's bipolar and takes medication. That by the way was brought up so remedial as if it was just saying, "make sure you guys buckle up, don't want a ticket." Scene by scene there are attempts to make Rebecca seem more sinister. Instead, I'm screaming, "GIVE ME MORE!" and that request is clearly ignored.

The climax came out of nowhere and it's build up jumped around like a king on a checkered board. Even so, the acting and reactions of someone trying to harm another person flew out of the window making me rationally clock out of the film. The roommate is barely entertaining and may make you say, "WOW" once or twice. The whole time I couldn't think of anything more than, "If this or this happened, it would've been much more entertaining." It's something that we have all seen before but a blessing none of us have to go through. There's a bad taste left in my mouth knowing how entertaining this film could have been if it didn't have the tight collar of a PG-13 rating. Not at all a must see in the least bit. There are plenty of films that surpassed this one in a foot race of the same genre leaving this one in last place. With all that being said, IT'S STILL JUST MY OPINION!!! 5/10 - Brandon Keith Avery

How bad was your college roommate? After Sara (Kelly) meets her new college roommate Rebecca (Meester) she thinks she has found a new friend. When Sara starts to do things without Rebecca strange things begin to happen. Let me first start by saying that this is not a bad movie, but it is definitely geared toward a specific age group, and it's not mine. For the 19-20 year olds this will be very creepy. For the older crowd this is a definite remake of "Single White Female", but in my opinion not as good. For those who have not seen that movie this will be very creepy. For those that have seen that movie you will notice the very similar scenes and ideas. Again this is actually not a bad movie, but if I was 10 years younger and a girl this would really scare me. If you are older like me and want to be creeped out by a movie like this one, I'd stick with the original "Single White Female". I will say the Leighton Meester, in a departure from her usual roles, did a really great job of playing a creepy stalker. I just could not really get in to this movie. I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I would, but it made me want to watch "Single White Female" again.

*Also Try - Kalamity & Single White Female

The Roommate is one of those films, that when you first the trailer, you think to yourself, "This is gonna suck". But only when you actually see the film do you realize that you were only partly wrong. The Roommate's premise is simple enough. A young pretty girl is being stalked and obsessed with by her roommate. The film revolves around Sarah (Minka Kelly) who is on her own, going to college and learning new things. Little does she know that she has a stalker roommate, Rebecca (Leighton Meester). As soon as Rebecca and Sarah become closer to each other, strange events begin to occur. Each of Sarah's close friends or allies becomes hurt, or sometimes even killed. I wonder who could've done this?

The good thing about The Roommate is that it is a pretty decent thriller. Even though it doesn't even come close to meeting the standards of a horror movie, it still delivers some chills and even some cheap jump scares. The acting is good as well. With the exception of Minka Kelly. Cam Gigandet delivers a solid sometimes annoying performance as Sarah's new beau. Even though he is not in the film for long, he lifts our spirits when things are going rough, which is pretty much every 10 minutes. But the real scene stealer here is Leighton Meester as the crazed roommate. Meester delivers a believable potent performance, psychotic one moment and sweet the next.

The bad things about the film are that in the very beginning it moves far too fast. Jumping from one thing to the next in the blink of an eye. Also, the writing really could've used a makeover. I mean, the dialogue in this film is ridiculous. All in all, the film is at times stupid and the deaths aren't very well executed, if executed at all. But the acting and characters keep you around for the show. Overall, The Roommate is a film I would recommend, but only to open-minded movie watchers.