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Review: The Roommate

Bloodless, sexless (and tired) Single White Female riff
By TOM MEEK  |  February 15, 2011
1.5 1.5 Stars

There's little in this girl-gone-wild thriller directed by Christian E. Christiansen that you haven't seen before and better - in SingleWhite Female, The Crush, and even Scream, to name a few. This one is so rinky-dink that the college in question is "ULA" (not UCLA), and co-eds troll on "My Friendz" (not Facebook). Especially poignant is the line (from one frosh to another) "You're the first roommate I've had since my sister died!" The actresses - Minka Kelly as the wholesome normal girl, Sara, and Leighton Meester as Rebecca, the introverted rich girl who goes off her meds - bite into their cellophane-thin roles with about as much gusto as you can expect. Billy Zane, meanwhile, meanders lazily as a philandering prof. But the saddest thing about The Roommate is how the filmmakers exploit the clearly ill Rebecca, turning her into a co-ed version of Jason or Freddy Krueger.

Related: Budgeting your time, OMG the DTR, Review: MI-5, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Leighton Meester, COLLEGE, thriller
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