The Roommate - Il terrore ti dorme accanto

'THE ROOMMATE': Two Stars (Out of Five)

New variation on 'SINGLE WHITE FEMALE', this one revolving around two college freshmen living on campus together at ULA. It stars 'GOSSIP GIRL's Leighton Meester as the psycho student and Minka Kelly as the good girl. The film is directed by Christian E. Christiansen and written by first time writer Sonny Mallhi. It's mildly amusing at times but for the most part it's routine and devoid of thrills or any real action.

Kelly plays Sara Matthews and Meester plays Rebecca Evans. When the two first meet in the dorm room they've both been given they immediately hit it off. What Sara doesn't realize is that she's made too much of an impression on Rebecca and she quickly becomes obsessed with her. Sara is also troubled by an ex-boyfriend (Matt Lanter) who keeps calling but has met a new love interest in drummer Stephen Morterelli (Cam Gigandet). This doesn't sit well with Rebecca who wants Sara all to herself. Her obsession turns to creepy and dangerous really fast.

The film is very light on thrills and violence (for a thriller). The first two thirds of the film actually play out more like a depressing character study drama leaving the viewer feeling more sorry for Rebecca than afraid of her but then of course the end turns to routine third act 'B' movie trash and we finally get some action. Meester is somewhat good as the troubled student and Kelly looks beautiful but for the most part the movie has no real acting to speak of. The dialogue is weak and scares and thrills, like I said, are nearly nonexistent. The movie fails on almost every count but it's still mildly amusing. I give it some credit for not putting me to sleep but it's mostly a waste.

Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd0S1srQ9T8

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.

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

I wanted to go see The Roommate....I was hoping it wasn't a typical, predictable movie. The acting was good...I think it was believable for the most and the actors a up and coming so it was nice to see a new set of faces. As for a new plot,I don't think so. It a pretty predictable movie, there is nothing new or fantastic about the movie. However its good for what it is which is a teen-thriller flick. There is definitely more that could have been done and it could have been a little more thrilling...to be honest it wasn't that scary! Its not really a horror....it barely classifies as a Thriller. If you want to go see a teen-thriller/psycho movie, this is a good choice however if youare in the mood for a possible Oscar movie or something to blow you away....this is definitely not for you!

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