Roomies

A tedious mixture of puerile efforts at humour with romantic relationship melodrama fails to provide this weakly made film with any flavour of reality. As action opens, Reno (A.J. Buckley) enters his apartment, there discovering his girlfriend in flagrante delicto with his roommate, who gloatingly tells Reno "Well, at least it's with someone you know", resulting in Reno's decision to never have another roommate, this decision told to viewers by means of a soon abandoned voice-over. The storyline then proceeds ten months where we find that Reno is indeed true to his word concerning avoidance of roommates, although this appears to beg the question due to his garnering of a live-in lover, Holly (Holly Fields), with whom he has generated marital plans. The plot briefly shifts to a sleazy Hollywood strip club, wherein Reno's Uncle Charley, enamoured of a "dancer" whom he finds eminently desirable, keels over dead atop the club's bar after seeing the unadorned charms displayed by the object of his affections. It is apparent that Charley had been aware of the flawed condition of his heart, because he created a video tape during which his commentary bequeaths his large (and mortgaged) residence in Hollywood to Reno, and we see the latter deciding to, contrary to his vow, interview applicants for two roommates as tenants, with he and Holly sharing the selection process in an organized manner. Following an inane sequence involving bizarre renter candidates, all of whom Reno and Holly unsurprisingly find unsuitable for living along with them in their house they, unknown to each other, each select a renter of the opposite sex, with the lovers manifestly cool toward the choice of their partner. The newcomers (Chad and Nicole) would seem to have little discernible point to their existence other than highly aural fornication with a broad range of partners, and it is not long before jealousy mars the harmonic relationship of Reno and Holly. Reno is bent upon patenting and merchandising a type of sporting travel bag and, as he has given an engagement ring to Holly, the potential success of this entrepreneurial adventure is of great financial significance if he intends to advance his marital plan. Unfortunately, the rapacious team of Chad and Nicole, whose every action is ostensibly laced with lust, is likely to disrupt any future wedding intentions of Reno. Direction is slack, plainly far from fulfilling basic needs of the players, although an erratically composed script provides scant material with which actors may work, and ad libbing falls embarrassingly flat. As a result, the performances are undistinguished, not aided by spotty editing, while the manner of camera-work changes as abruptly and often as a firefly's tail light. Filmed with a low budget and on location, only a modicum of skill is required for the designing processes, but a larger measure of value might have been placed upon the tasteless D.J. background soundtrack, generally blaring and nearly always invasive. A good deal of discussion has been stimulated by the movie's final sequences that are apparently not expected by a viewer based upon what has come before, but in reality these comprise probably the only thoughtful portions of a poorly cobbled screenplay, and bids fair to make the work almost watchable, despite the shabby quality of the production as a whole.

I had high hopes for this one after reading the back of the DVD, "In the spirit of American Pie and Animal House..." After suffering through this I realized I just blew $2.50 to rent it. This movie started out slow and just got slower... brief and fleeting moments of levity proved that it was in the spirit of American Pie if you mean "spirit" as a dead thing. not very entertaining or fun! Don't be fooled like i was and expect anything barely watchable because this movie will depress you more than entertain you. "Need to fill up three more lines for this stupid movie that doesn't deserve the effort... what a stupid piece of ignorant crud. This movie wreaked, even the brief nudity sucked!

In Texas, the insecure Reno Rizolla (A.J. Buckley) has been living with his girlfriend Holly (Holly Fields) for six months. Reno is jealous but does not want to get married now with Holly that promises to give him a bj only after their marriage. Reno does not accept to have roommates since his last girlfriend betrayed him with his roomie. Reno is unsuccessfully trying to sell a boxing bag that he has invented. Out of the blue, Reno is fired from his job and evicted from his home. However his Uncle Charlie (Shelly Kurtz) unexpectedly dies in Los Angeles and Reno and Holly travel to the City of Angels.

Reno learns that have inherited a mansion and the Mercedes Benz from his uncle, but no money since Charlie had spent his fortune with a stripper. Further, the manor still have five years mortgage loan to be paid. Without any other option, they decide to rent two rooms to pay the debts. The handsome Chad (David Wheir) and the sexy Nicole (Jennifer Lyons) rent the rooms and Reno and Holly become jealous of them. Reno has not patented his boxing bag and soon he discovers that his project has been stolen. He decides to get married with Holly but he needs to travel to Texas to bring their furniture and possessions to LA. But while he is traveling, Chad and Nicole give a party that will change their lives.

"Wild Roomies" is a combination of comedy, romance and drama that has a reasonable beginning, tiresome development and an amoral conclusion that could have saved the story. The marketing and DVD cover seem to be based on "American Pie", but the plot is totally different. Reno is a good character but totally insecure, losing Holly because his insecurity. Even being infatuated by Chad, Holly's attitude is totally unexpected and inconsistent with her character since she is angry with her house trashed by Chad and Nicole's friends and ends in a threesome with them and doing the oral sex she had always refused to Reno. The problem is not relative to a moral or amoral ending, but coherence with the character. Mt vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Se Essa Casa Falasse" ("If This House Could Speak")

There seems to be quite a few comments on how bad this movie is.

I can see how it won't appeal to a younger (people younger than 30's) audience who may feel that the "occasional" straying from your girl/guy is okay and understandable, so what's the big deal?

I agree that the movie is slow and nothing much (or meaningful) happens until the "famous" ending. After watching it for about half an hour, I turned my attention to other things (computer, etc.) and didn't get back to the movie until at the ending. I picked it up again where Reno leaves for his out-of-town trip, and watched through to the end. I must say the ending disturbed me a lot - that is it made me really really sad. Reno and Holly had a potentially very good relationship, and obviously loved each other a lot (This shows even at the end when Holly was watching Reno being interviewed on TV in a bar - oh she was so sad) This ending raises a deeply philosophical question: Can one partner trust another after such an act? Even though I don't have a partner, I wondered after watching the movie how I would react if I were in Reno's shoes! Can one give up a potentially beautiful yet perhaps unlikely to be long-lasting relationship (one who strays once likely may stray again)? This movie failed because the producer did not know what audience he/she wants to, and therefore, target. It is - as some reviewers have said - not a comedy (particularly the ending). It does however - also as some reviewers said - have some funny moments. It has no nudity to attract male audiences, at least what I'd call nudity anyway. And certainly no "actions" - but then it is not intended to be an action movie.

I only gave it a 7 because of the "deep" ending - as much as it left a big lump in my throat for a long time....

The movie is aiming at American Pie fans, by the lag lines, by the cover that has an half naked chicks on it(and surprisingly not the actor playing Reno... or the one playing Chad) that is not even in the movie.. The title WILD roomies and the back cover which feature the stripper at the beginning of the movie... All of this make you think this another of those "teen comedy" and to be honest, even tough they are very light , i love those.

But this movie is not, minus a few nude shots and 2-3 jokes, this is the kind of movie that i would see my mother watch... Its what i call a chick flick as it goes on emotions, relationship and i dunno... as a 28 years old male, it just didn't hook me up.

I was more interested in Chad and Nicole than in the 2 main protagonist and i wanted to see what THEY where doing outside there home...

I will add that if you are a french speaker, this movie is part of the VVS line when they used atrocious dubbing that sounded like Saturday night midnight cable softcore movies... Its not good... Thanks fully they changed that over the years...