The Film
Hollywood has been in overdrive in the last couple of years on remakes. It is enough to make you think that they're somehow out of ideas in the dream factory. But whoever came up with the idea to essentially remake Single White Female, set it in a dorm in California and call it The Roommate deserves a bigger office.
This isn't to say that the film is good. It isn't. This isn't to say that there are new twists and turns. There aren't. Yet they've somehow managed to remake the earlier film with apparently no one the wiser and landed a top spot at the box office in its opening weekend. Of course it opened on Superbowl weekend with little competition, but still, #1 at the box office on any weekend is no mean feat. This newer version takes place in some fantasy land, alternative universe version of Los Angeles, and features Midwest transplant Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) adapting to the city, making new friends, and hooking up with a frat boy (Cam Gigandet) while slowly realizing that her roommate Rebecca (Leighton Meester) is more than a little off.
Somehow this story takes 90 minutes to reach its expected climatic conclusion, which is dragged out as you just keep waiting for something to happen, and yet it actually works just as well as when Bridget Fonda did it more than a decade ago. Hollywood may be out of ideas, but this proves you can remake films that weren't all that good to begin with, populate it with the up and comers of the day, and laugh all the way to the bank.
The Picture
This one saves money too in that it is clear from the beginning that The Roommate was shot digitally, making for a crisp and visually clear picture, but lacking the organic look of film. The 2.40:1 1080p presentation actually has a high quality theatrical feel to it, even if this was a blink and you'll miss it in theaters type of release. The transfer is simply excellent and there is hardly a flaw to be seen, made all the more so by the almost plastic looking (and plastic acting) characters and perfect sets. Of course these visuals don't make up for the flawed story.
The Sound
Like any good thriller -- not that this is actually one of those -- it has just the intensity with the sound that you'd expect. The strings of the score warn that something bad might happen soon, while kicking it up for the turn! But despite this the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is probably overkill for this film. It allows for the dialog to come through clearly, while offering a bit of ambient sound, and at times you almost hear the "crazy" in Rebecca.
The Extras
There are a few bonus features, including audio commentary from the director, deleted and alternate scenes (none of which make the story any better), a look at the fashion of the film, a making-of featurette and interestingly enough "The Roommate: The Next Generation of Stars" featurette that profiles the film's stars. This sort of explains that maybe this movie was just put together to introduce those aforementioned up and comers. There are also previews of Sony titles, movieIQ+Sync and this is a BD-Live disc to boot!
Final Thoughts
There are remakes and then there are films that are so similar you wonder why the same title wasn't used. In this case there are enough differences from Single White Female to justify a new title but this is basically the same old story. It was more of a schlocky shock film than classic, and remade in 2011 is just as schlocky but with a bit less shock.
Product Details
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