User reviews

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.

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

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!

This is hard because the acting and directing is not bad at all..., you just seen this story a thousand times. At one point it even felt like and episode of Smallville. This is not a waste of time... I just wish the writer would have taken more chances..

Maybe I'm OK with it because I didn't spend money at the theater to see it, but caught it on a late-night TV airing. Yes, it's a rip-off of Single White Female. But the direction and production values are pretty good. For watching at home on TV with a bowl of popcorn, it's worth your time. Predictable, but well done.

I haven't seen the film 'Single White Female' for a while. but, from what I remember, it was basically 'The Roommate.' Maybe 'The Roommate' was actually a remake of 'SWF' and I just didn't get the memo? Either way... I basically felt that I'd seen it all before - and better.

A student moves into her university dormitory, only to get a new - you guessed it - roommate. And the roommate is a psycho. If you were told that briefest of plot synopsises then you'd probably be able to guess what happens next. And I reckon you'd be right. There's nothing here that's remotely surprising or worth your time watching.

There's everything you'd expect here. Stalking. Disbelief at what's happening. A slow burn leading to some kills and minor backstory to try and 'explain' various character motivations.

The girl is, er, a girl. I'd never seen her in anything else, so please excuse my ignorance regarding her body of work. She's functional enough and even likable. Then you have her roommate. She too, plays her part as best as the story allows. But - and this may just be me - but I found they looked too similar. Now, maybe this was on purpose, but I actually got confused between the two sometimes! Then, occasionally the script will require other girls popping up and - guess what - they also look almost identical. Maybe I just need by eyes tested, but normally I can tell one character apart.

Yeah, I know I'm being a bit harsh on it, but I've seen a lot of films (in particular horror) and, if you're in the same boat as me, there's very little point in you bothering with this one (especially if you've seen 'Single White Female' which is infinitely better). However, if there's one positive I can say about it is that it probably wasn't meant for hardened veterans of the genre. If you haven't seen that many similar films then I'm guessing all this will be quite new and interesting. So, if you haven't picked up on what I'm saying, basically - if you're young you'll probably love it. Old people like myself... move on.

It's not 'Single White Female' or 'Basic Instinct.' In fact, I'm not sure if I've seen a good female-stalker thriller since those films...oh, wait, loved 'The Crush,' but that also from the SWF time period. This movie just did not have any of those elements other than she's a crazy, obsessive stalker. It was too paint-by-the-numbers, as far as scripts go. I think maybe the only thing keeping me interested was the pretty cast. It was worth it to watch Leighton Meister and Cam Gigandet to see if anything was going to happen. It was fine. The acting was fine. It just never felt particularly tense and I was never on the edge of my seat. I was curious as to why she was a psycho, but they never really addressed it, which I think is why it failed...though, they never addressed why Glen Close or Alicia Silverstone were psychos in their movies and they both managed to make things tense and for you to actually be scared of them. I didn't feel scared of Leighton, but I don't think they made her scary, they just made her a psycho b***h.

This film was kind of on a quality par with 'Swim Fan,' but, I actually think that was slightly better. Maybe.

A group of my friends and I went to see this movie expecting a thriller/horror movie. We ended up laughing at how silly it was. It's a terrible movie - it feels as though it was written by a 9th grader. BUT, as I was with a group of friends, and the people in the theater were with their friends as well (and talkative - NYC theater), the wise cracks we made about our other friends in relation to the movie's characters made this "thriller" a hilarious comedy. But a comedy in the sense of an "American Home Videos" clip - an unfortunate event that never should have happened (the making of this film) but is none the less humorous to everyone that sees it.

Shallow plot. Few thrills. Insulting to mental-illness community. More enjoyable that doing dishes, but less enjoyable than watching a rerun of your favorite TV show - unless you have a group of friends that make wise-cracks. Then it's pretty cool. Still a terrible movie though.

Sara goes off to college and gets herself Rebecca as a roommate in the dorm, who is from the very beginning creepy and quickly demonstrates that she's more than a bit obsessed with being Sara's best friend, whether Sara wants her as her best friend or not. If that sounds familiar, it's because it is. It's the basic plot of "Single White Female" with the action moved into the context of a college dorm. So it's entirely unoriginal in content, but does that make it bad?

I wouldn't call it bad. It has a very much low-profile cast (the only one I can really think of who's at all familiar is Billy Zane) but they manage well enough in their parts. I wouldn't call anyone in this outstanding, but Leighton Meester does come across as appropriately creepy as roommate Rebecca and Minka Kelly manages as Sara. There's not much to the supporting cast. Although Rebecca is the troubled and obsessed one, Sara comes across as unbelievably naive and forgiving of Rebecca, considering that Rebecca's obsession is clear from the beginning and that Sara on more than one occasion calls her (however gently) on her strange behaviour. As unoriginal as this may be, there's an appropriate amount of suspense to it, Rebecca shows herself to be totally evil as she does away with her rivals for Sara's friendship and the final confrontation is pretty well done.

For all that, if you want to see the basic story done well, you need to watch "Single White Female." If you want to see the same story with a bit of a twist, this will suffice, but it isn't as good. (5/10)

While offering absolutely nothing new or original the movie isn't really that bad. It's well done and acting is ok. It did feel like it was longer than hour and a half but never did it feel really slow or boring.

That is all I give it 5 stars 5/10 though So not too many I didn't like it that much is all What are you saying I can think what I think whatever ok?

I saw someone on rotten tomatoes say "This is one of those guilty pleasures - it was a bad movie and a predictable plot, but I couldn't stop watching!" And I couldn't put it better. I will add, I saw this movie years ago and basically forgot all of this movie. I had dejavu moments throughout but I couldn't remember it clearly. And I have an excellent memory so I feel that says something of this movie. Although it's enjoyable enough on a day you have some time to kill, it is a forgettable experience.

I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going into it and in all honesty it's not bad at all. Sure, it's got flaws and it's not going to win awards. But, did it entertain me on my Friday night movie watch? Yes.

My biggest problem with this plot was the depth of the characters. It was lacking in all areas unfortunately. They clearly tried with certain areas such as Sara's dead sister, but it felt so half arsed and incomplete. They could have really fleshed out the stalkers character and shown us a lot more than they did and I think this would have really helped the character and the plot as a whole.

The acting was less than impressive I have to say. No stand out performances and it was being dragged along by the intensity of the plot (which I have to say they did a good job of doing).

There are some positives however. Obviously the plot is laid out quite linear, but as mentioned the intensity is kept throughout and the increase of Rebecca's actions is illustrated well. And ultimately it's an entertaining watch that never felt dragged out. Every scene felt important in one way or another, which can be rare in films these days.

5 is just because...my girlfriend was next to me and we had good time during the movie on our Easter holidays! otherwise a...3 it's fair enough! :-) not bad cast but, not something we haven't seen before in other movies (could be a "remake" of Single White Female), and very... predictable! If you have plenty of time to spend on watching every new movie that comes up, thats a good reason to watch it, so as to have an opinion about it...and you will probably have the same opinion with us! otherwise...go on to the next one that its on your watch-list! tip : you will not be scared especially if at the same period you've watched movies like The Rite, or Spit on your Grave, but it's sure that the scene with the little cat it's gonna get you mad about that obsessed girl!

When I am asked to suspend my belief for an hour and a half, I at least expect the presentation to be within the ballpark. I went to college, and I never saw an eighteen to twenty year old with crow's feet and forehead wrinkles as deep as Sara's. It made everything that followed a "B" movie. There MUST be young actresses available who can play their ages not just with acting but also with appearance.

I just picked it up because the trailer for this teen flick staid somehow in my mind and it did remind me of Single White Female (1992). But all I can say is that it was indeed a teenage flick. i can't say that it was a horror or a thriller but just a teenage flick. Of course it was promoted well due two of the cast of Vampire Diaries to be seen but even they are only for a short note in it, Kat Graham (Kim) being in it for a few minutes but the one every Vampire Diaries fan is waiting for Nina Dobrev (Maria) only for a few seconds.

You really have to wait until the end before things got out of hand, before that we just see some kind of sick jealousy from Rebecca (Leighton Meester) taking revenge on the life of Sara (Minka Kelly).

I'm sure that teenagers will love this and will find it scary but to be honest, I would say, admittance under 12!

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 0/5 Comedy 0/5

It's been a while since I've watched this film, and now I've run into it on one of the Horror lists, and figured I'd give my two cents from what I can remember.

The first thing I can say is that I don't remember much and not very vividly, so that's one thing I can say about it - it doesn't stay with you, doesn't leave much of an impression, and therefore - can't be all that good.

The screen writing and story were nice, but not too impressive. No twists or surprises, and nothing too memorable. Acting was nice, especially Leighton Meester as semi-psycho roommate Rebecca, who was very convincing. On the other hand, I didn't much care for the message. As a person affiliated with personality disorders, I find portraying people who are Bi-Polar as violent and dangerous slightly unfair. Then again, that's just me.

All in all, The Roommate is fun to watch. I sort of like the wave of "evil females" Horror films. I can't say this film was anything special, for better or for worse.

The Roommate has the most attractive cast out in a movie in a long time: Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester, and Danneel Harris; Nina Dobrev also makes an appearance. Unfortunately, the first-time writer of this movie doesn't give them a lot to do.

Minka plays a small town college student, Sara, in her first day at a California college to study fashion. On her first day she makes, friends, goes to a party, and meets her new boyfriend, a player in a band of course. The next day she meets her roommate, Rebecca, who is somewhat antisocial and becomes more and more controlling as the movie goes by.

Leighton's character, Rebecca, gets obsessed with Sara; she thinks she's her best friend, while Sara doesn't care all that much about her. Little by little Rebecca starts threatening and getting Sara's closest people out of the way until finally Sara confronts her.

Even though Rebecca is supposed to be the main character, Leighton gets top billing, we know very little about her. At some point we meet her rich parents, and learn that she had an obsession with another girl in high school. Later we find out what the cause of the obsession is, but that part of the story doesn't get any attention.

Things go pretty much by the numbers, nothing new, different, or original is done. The selling point here is the gorgeous cast, the highlight the movie turns out to be Leighton and Danneel kissing. Poor Minka who is in most of the movie doesn't get a chance to show what she can do. A watchable movie for the eye-candy, a shame no one came up with in interesting script. The producers were more interesting an selling us a CD of awful music instead of giving us a decent movie. Direction is good but slow, no doubt because there wasn't a whole lot of script with which to work

This movie is based in Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles. The student population for Anglo Americans or 29% followed by 29% of Asian students. The third highest is 17% Hispanics. This movie ignore 70% at the student population. Even when they are roaming around the City where the highest population of Latinos in the US exist, I guess somewhere along the line before getting mentions genocide in there everyone in Los Angeles is an Anglo American.