The Girls' Room

"The Girls' Room" is a surprisingly engaging little indie "sleeper" about two college seniors and roomies. One is a proper and privileged Southern Bell "have" (Taber) and the other a pot smoking, beer drinking, sexually active "have-not" (Frye aka Punky Brewster). The plot is about the inevitable conflict and competition which, after much ado involving friends and guys and girl issues, results in both learning more about themselves through each other. The film manages an even tone, avoids the usual excesses of filmdom, and communicates an important subliminal message about how, though we all may take different paths through life, we can learn from each other and arrive at the same destination of self-actualization realizing a happiness as unique as ourselves. A pleasure to watch and highly recommendable, especially for females. (B)

Grace and Casey really are quite convincing as friends, before they become enemies again. This explains the movie title in my TV listings "Best of Enemies".

While Casey's personality is kind of hard to take, Soleil Moon Frye gives a great performance. I saw her play a similar character for years on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", where Sabrina was the cute princess. Casey really isn't so bad, and she is so sweet and loving with her grandmother Nana.

Julianna McCarthy is quite appealing as Nana. Not your typical grandmother, but appealing enough.

Cat Taber is just adorable. You expect she will be this spoiled rich girl but there's more to her than that. In some ways Casey is preferable, but Grace is not so bad and sometimes easy to like. If you don't have money, you have to laugh at her priorities.

Sweetie is anything but sweet. I could have done without her. But she adds something to the movie and sometimes we just need to be exposed to that which is outside our comfort zone.

This is kind of hard to explain, but I'll try. A few years ago I couldn't find the magazines I wanted at the big downtown library and I had to go to nearby Wake Forest University to see them. And now that library is closed for renovation and I'm spending even more time at Wake Forest. I thought the architectural style of the college buildings was quite attractive but it didn't hit me why everything looked so familiar until the credits. Not even when I saw the unique name "Reynolda Hall". I tape everything I watch so I was able to back up and see the buildings again. If I had known ahead of time that it really was Wake Forest, that would have been an even bigger reason to watch.

Is it worth seeing? Probably.

I first heard about this film quite a while ago, and have wanted to see it for a very long time. I am a very big fan of Soleil Moon Frye, and she is the main reason I wanted to see it. When I saw that it was released on DVD I was extremely happy.

From the moment the film started, I was drawn in, and I stayed drawn in until the end. Casey's (Soleil Moon Frye) opening and ending monologue was great, and an awesome way to open and end the movie. The ending is very good, and it leaves you feeling complete. The movie is really about two college roommates who are very different. It is about one of them wanting revenge on the other. The movie is very real, and that, to me, is very refreshing.

The only problem I had with the film was the editing. It is very choppy, and isn't put together all that well, but it isn't a big problem. I only thought about it during a few scenes.

The two main characters are compelling. I have to say that Soleil gives the best performance in the film. The other lead, Cat Taber (who plays Grace), was good, but it felt like her performance was missing something. The other actors were all great as well (Notably Wil Wheaton as Grace's fiancé, and Gary Wolf as Casey's friend).

The DVD has no extras at all, though. It only has the film and scene selections (a total of 8 chapters), and if you leave it on the main menu for too long, the movie starts by itself. The lack of extras doesn't bother me, though. It took the film long enough to get released.

While this movie isn't for everyone, I loved it, and will watch it more than once. The DVD doesn't seem to be a big release, so you may have a hard time finding a rental, but it is well worth the purchase price here! If you are a fan of one of the actors, this is a must have DVD! In closing, I would like to say "How nice, How very, very nice!"

I saw this movie on Showtime, and it was actually pretty great. The plot is pretty simple: Revenge. The two actesses are great. Soliel Moon Frye and Cat Taber play room mates who are sorely mismatched and Wil Wheaton plays Cat Tabers soon to be hubby. Good acting, engaging plot, and characters, great for a rental or catch it on cable. It is thoroughly enjoyable.

Not many people have seen this, it's sort of an indie flick, and that's a shame.

Most movies out lately are so redundant. A whole bunch of movies about popular, flawless, fake girls fighting over something lame. Don't get me wrong I have liked some of the more recent releases, but they all have the same stuff in it. The Girls' Room was so...GREAT! It was super easy to follow. And I think everyone could relate to some part of it, whether it was a character or a situation. I can't even name a favorite part, there were a ton. Every time it came on cable premiums, I was watching it. I made my best friend watch it and now, it's one of her favorites too. So to all of you who hated it... how nice, how nice, how very very nice.