Monday, April 11, 2011

Movie Review: The Roommate

To be honest, this was one of those films that when you first saw the trailer, you think to yourself, "This is going to suck!". But you know what, I was partly wrong - partly being the operative word. Haha.

I thought this was actually a pretty decent thriller - if a bit mediocre. It didn't even come close to meeting the standards of a great suspense /thriller, but I thought the film delivered some interesting chills and even some cheap jump scares. The premise was simple enough - like the usual - and it had the typical slasher set-up with some cheesy dialogues. So, in that context, the movie was mostly at par with it's contemporaries.

The acting was also surprisingly pretty solid. I didn't cringe at the lame screams or badly-acted terrified facial expressions because there weren't any - well, Minka Kelly was debatable, but whatever. Everyone gave performances beyond what I have expected from them.

But the real scene stealer here was possibly Leighton Meester, who I believe was the best part of the film. I mean, she delivered a believable potent performance that totally creeped me out. Vulnerable, but incredibly dangerous. That's pretty impressive, considering the script could have easily led her to portray the role as little more than a shallow monstrous character. Great!

With all that being said though, I must admit that the film had its fair share of irritating flaws. I found the pacing to be incredibly awful. It dragged like forever during the first half and the ending just left me a little confused as everything happened so fast. The editing was also quite annoying. Scenes jumped from one thing to the next in the blink of an eye. It felt choppy and unfocused at times. Plus, the writing could've used a little makeover.

Overall, it was ok. Aside from some lame execution of scenes here and there, The Roommate had plenty of interesting atmosphere and, arguably, a good cast. I'm not so sure if I'd recommend this though. Maybe wait until the DVD copies are available. Just saying.

RATING: 5/10

2 comments:

Smarla said...

in fairness, pwede pala sa horror si leighton meester :)

DAM THE NATION said...

Smarla: I know! She's pretty effective!

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