The Roommate
Time Out New York Project: Issue #800, February 10-16, 2011
★★★☆☆
Dir. Christian E. Christiansen. 2011. PG-13. 93mins. Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Cam Gigandet.
Freshman fashionista Sara Matthews (Kelly) gets the full college experience and then some in this enjoyably trashy thriller. Charming frat-house boyfriend (Gigandet)? Check. Professor (Billy Zane, bless him) with a come-hither libido? Check. Looney-tunes roommate (Meester) off her meds? Check that shit off! When fatally attracted Rebecca is around, no cute kitten is safe from coin-operated-dryer death. And hair-tearing catfights? Well, those are assured. It’s the stuff of a late-night channel-surfer’s dreams. The film’s sure-to-be-brief theatrical release is a mere stopover on the way to basic-cable eternity.—Keith Uhlich