Psychothriller does not impress audiences

By Kelsey Alvino Asst. Perspectives Editor

“The Roommate” is a new thriller the whole family will have different opinions on. The movie follows Sara (Minka Kelly), a small town girl who has moved to Los Angeles to study fashion at Los Angeles University. Her assigned roommate is a wealthy art student named Rebecca (Leighton Meester).

At first, they seem like they’re going to be BFFs. As soon as sweet-innocent Sara tells Rebecca about her beloved sister Emily, who died when Sara was young, Rebecca says “I always wanted to have a sister.”

However as the semester goes on Sara begins to feel pressure from Rebecca about where she is and who she is constantly with.

These doomed individuals who prevent Rebecca from being with Sara 24/7 include Tracy (Aly Michalka), a party animal who suffers an attack and death threat from Rebecca in the dorm showers. Stephen (Cam Gigandet) Sara’s love interest gets stalked constantly.

As Rebecca feels Sara drifting away from her, she continually calls her phone and yells at Sara for coming home so late. Sara, being naive, believes Rebecca is right and she shouldn’t have made her worry.

Then an incident occurs when Sara’s slimeball fashion teacher makes a move on her unbeknownst her crazy roommate.

Rebecca goes to his office, seduces him and then makes noises as if he is attacking her. She records it on her phone and gets him fired. But that’s not the worst thing that will happen to Sara.

As Sara refuses an invitation to Thanksgiving Dinner from Rebecca she gets desperate for attention. Faking an attack, Rebecca inflicts pain on herself, including bruising and a stab wound, which she did with a box cutter (the weapon of choice in this movie).

Needless to say, the situation ultimately deteriorates from uncomfortable and creepy to dangerous.

At Thanksgiving, Rebecca’s mother asks Sara if Rebecca has been taking her medication and we are shown the uneasy living situation as Rebecca’s parents seem terrified of her. Finally discovering that Rebecca is far more than just a whack job and actually has bio-polar and schizophrenia, the movie proceeds with no dramatic surprises.

Kelly did a terrible acting job throughout the movie and seemed to lack any type of emotion. Her calm voice and passive attitude was totally unbelievable and any intelligent human being would have gotten them self out of that creepy situation with a swift room change.

Meester at least had fun with the role. Her attempted facial expressions as a deranged psychopath were more creepy and humorous than anything else.

This cast was completely unexpected for a psychothriller. Unknown actors usually end up doing exceptionally well during movies, because audiences have little to no expectations coming into it. However, for “The Roommate,” that was not exactly the case.

Although “The Roommate” earned $15.6 million on its opening weekend and was at the top of the box office, it seemed like a movie that was strictly made to make money, not entertain.

To call “The Roommate” a “psychological thriller” and “horror” movie is a complete joke. The only thing that frightened me was the ticket price.

Check out www.rottentomatoes.com for the horrific score and to see how other fans rated “The Roommate” and read all of their opinions about the movie.

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