The Roommate

''The Roommate'' is a 2011 American psychological thriller film directed by Christian E. Christiansen and written by Sonny Mallhi. The film stars Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Cam Gigandet, Danneel Harris, Matt Lanter, and Aly Michalka.

''The Roommate'' was released in the United States on February 4, 2011.

Plot

Sara Matthews is starting her freshman year of college in Los Angeles. It begins with meeting the campus party girl, Tracy, who invites her to a frat party. There, Sara also meets musician, Stephen, for whom she feels an immediate attraction. Not realizing that the punch at the party was spiked, Sara gets intoxicated. Upon returning to her dorm room, Sara discovers that her roommate, Rebecca has arrived. The next day, they get to know each other at the campus bookstore. One night, Tracy invites Sarah and Rebecca to go clubbing. Sarah accepts, but Rebecca refuses One, because Rebecca developed an instant dislike of Tracy...Rebecca is unusually conservative for a girl her age, shunning Tracy's attempts to nickname her Becky. Two, she clearly views Tracy as trashy and sluttish. This is further emphasized when Tracy strands her at the nightclub, and has to call Rebecca to come get her at a local diner. The next day, Rebecca takes Sara to view various art museums. The girls begin to bond and Rebecca learns that Sara had an older sister, Emily, who died when Sara was nine, and an ex-boyfriend, Jason, who keeps calling her in attempts to reconcile. They get even closer when Sara brings home a stray kitten, naming her Cuddles, even though it's against dorm rules.

Over time, Rebecca's obsession with Sara grows, which causes her to drive away anyone who could come between them. She begins camping outside of Tracy's dorm room, glaring at her malevolently. However, Sara isn't that alarmed when Tracy confronts her with it. Especially when Rebecca blows off what Tracy told Sara claiming that it was Tracy who freaked HER out by knowing her over to get to the bathroom, sick after a night of partying. One night, Rebecca ambushes Tracy in the shower room. Claiming that she is a bad influence, Rebecca attacks Tracy in the shower, pins her down, rips out her belly-button ring, and threatens to kill her unless she stays away from Sara. Tracy moves to another dorm, fearful of Rebecca. An old friend of Sara's named Irene invites Sara to move in with her when Sara's cat Cuddles is discovered by an RA. Rebecca kills Cuddles, putting her into a laundromat dryer, lying to Sara that the cat ran away, and inflicts injuries upon herself and says she was assaulted by a thug. Feeling sympathetic, Sara decides to spend Thanksgiving with Rebecca. When Sara's fashion design professor, Roberts, kisses her, Rebecca plans to get the professor out of the picture by seducing him while recording their dialogue on a tape recorder to make it sound like he was trying to rape her.

During her Thanksgiving stay, Sara immediately picks up on the tension between Rebecca and her parents. Spending the night with Rebecca in her room, she immediately notices artwork of a beautiful, dark haired girl on her walls. Later, Sara overhears a conversation between Rebecca and her father, hinting Rebecca has had trouble making friends in the past. The next day, Rebecca's mother lets it slip that Rebecca is supposed to be taking medication. Rebecca takes Sara to a local coffee shop that she used to go to everyday. There, Sara has a disturbing encounter with the girl that she recognizes from Rebecca's artwork. She appears to be terrified of Rebecca, immediately bolting outside with her friends. Rebecca brings Sara outside to the girl's table, introducing Sara to her. Named Maria, the girl treats them coldly. As Rebecca and Sara are leaving, Maria walks over to confront Rebecca. In front of Sara, Maria makes it clear to Rebecca that the two of them were never friends. Sara now realizes that in the past, Rebecca most likely had been stalking Maria.

By now, Sara is beginning to realize that Rebecca was nothing like the person that she initially thought she was. That something was very, very wrong here. Deciding to investigate while Rebecca went out, claiming to go to the art studio, Sara and Stephen find a bottle of unused Zyprexa pills. Sara discovers that this is a psychlotropic medication used to treat schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Stephen points out that he doesnt believe Rebecca was ever taking her medication, reemphasizing the suspicions her mother voiced to Sara. Sara decides to move in with Irene. Unknown to Sara, Rebecca had never gone to the studio as she had claimed. She had been stalking Irene and tracked her down to a local gay bar. She seduces Irene and they go to Irene's apartment. The following morning, Sara goes to Irene's apartment, but she is not there. She returns to the dorm to tell Rebecca that she's moving in with Irene. Before she can, however, Rebecca suddenly tells her that she wants to get a tattoo and wants Sara to come with her. It turns out to be EMILY, the name of Sara's dead sister. She tells Sara to now think of her as Emily. Alarmed, Sara finally realizes Rebecca is obsessed with her and removes her belongings from the dorm. Jason arrives at Sara's dorm and slips a note under her door, saying that he wants to see her. Rebecca intercepts the note, and disguises herself like Sara by dying her hair black. She then goes to Jason's hotel room and stabs him to death.

Sara receives a text message from Irene saying she needs to meet with her right away, and she calls Stephen so he can meet her there. She arrives and finds a gagged Irene handcuffed to the bed. Rebecca reveals herself and points a gun at Sara, proclaiming her love and loyalty, before revealing tearfully she was responsible for what happened to Tracy, Cuddles, Professor Roberts, Irene, and Jason, and that she did it all to win Sara's friendship. Rebecca moves to smother Irene, and Sara attempts to stop her. Sara tries to call for help, but the phone is dead. Bound and helpless, Irene pleads for Sara to save herself. Sara tries to get out the window to get help. Rebecca breaks back into the room and aims the gun at the cuffed and helpless Irene, only to be stopped by Stephen who briefly disarms her but is knocked unconscious. Climbing back into the room, Sara is strangled by an enraged Rebecca. Whilst choking, Sara stabs Rebecca with a box cutter, killing her after saying the words “You were never my friend”.

Sara moves back into her dorm and moves the extra bed out of her room with the help of Stephen, proclaiming that she does not want anyone as a roommate for a while.

Cast

* Leighton Meester as Rebecca Evans
* Minka Kelly as Sara Matthews
* Cam Gigandet as Stephen
* Danneel Harris as Irene Crew
* Matt Lanter as Jason Tanner
* Nina Dobrev as Maria
* Aly Michalka as Tracy Long
* Kat Graham as Kim Johnson
* Cherilyn Wilson as Landi Rham
* Billy Zane as Professor Roberts
* Frances Fisher as Alison Evans
* Tomas Arana as Jeff Evans
* Alex Meraz as Frat boy
* Nathan Parsons as Cashier Boy

Production

Sonny Mallhi first thought of shooting the film in New York City but it was eventually shot on location at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and at Loyola Marymount University. Leighton Meester was originally set to play Sara but was replaced by Minka Kelly and Leighton played Rebecca. Billy Zane and Frances Fisher had both starred together in ''Titanic'' thirteen years earlier, though in this film they shared no scenes.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 3% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 2.86/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Devoid of chills, thrills, or even cheap titillation, ''The Roommate'' isn't even bad enough to be good." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Keith Staskiewicz of ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave the film a D, saying it "is really just a far-below-par thriller that desperately wishes it were a different movie – a longing it shares with the audience," but praises Meester for bringing "the slightest trace of something fascinating to her role. When she smiles, it's perfectly located between a sweet display of affection and a snarling warning." Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' gave it a half star, stating that "''The Roommate'' – the umpteenth uncredited remake of 1992's ''Single White Female'' – sucks bad, real bad" and that "Danish director Christian E. Christiansen has no flair for suspense". Meester's performance garnered praise from other top critics, including the ''Los Angeles Times'', which states: "Here, her performance often has the feeling of a sports car in neutral. When she punches it for quick changes of tone from manic to wounded or around the bend, she shows how much more she is capable of."

Box office

Opening in 2,534 theaters, the film grossed $15.6 million its opening weekend to take first place at the box office. Its distributor estimated that females under the age of 21 accounted for two-thirds of its audience. By the end of its run, the film grossed $37.3 million in the United States and Canada and $15.2 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $52.5 million.

Accolades

Controversy

Some of the promotional posters and displays for the film used the Christy Administration Building from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas as its backdrop. The college administration voiced concern that permission to use the photograph of the building was not properly obtained and investigated the legality of its use.

Primary concerns hinged that the image of the college (particularly the image of the building) could be damaged, while other concerns were that the college's primary iconic image was being used for promotion of an unrelated business venture.

Though the film successfully earned $15.6 million in receipts to top the box office during its debut weekend in the United States, concerns continued. By that time, the image of the building had been replaced on the film's official website and on subsequent promotional material. The photo of the building reportedly was licensed from iStockPhoto based in Calgary, Alberta. As of February 8, 2011, no lawsuits had been filed but discussions had taken place.

Students at the school reported "mixed feelings" about the topic – some believed that it may have been helpful for the college and others reported that they saw how it could have been harmful to the school's image.

Home media

''The Roommate'' was released on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and digital download in North America on May 17, 2011.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roommate, The
2011 films
2011 LGBT-related films
2011 psychological thriller films
2010s American films
2010s English-language films
American LGBT-related films
American psychological thriller films
Films about stalking
Films directed by Christian E. Christiansen
Films produced by Roy Lee
Films scored by John Frizzell (composer)
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set in universities and colleges
Films shot in Los Angeles
Lesbian-related films
LGBT-related thriller films
Screen Gems films
Vertigo Entertainment films