diogomanuel
I would bet that this movie was someone's dare. It is a joke from start to finish, and not in a good way.We want to laugh with it but we just end up with a giggle or two, mostly because of the embarrassment that we actually chose to see it. There is no coherent story line just a number of small segments glued together to make a movie. We don't see the point of it, and after some time we just give up and can't wait for it to end...What a waste of time! Avoid this one...
Predrag
Four Rooms is a very unique film. It is a collection of four stories directed by four different directors. Although the film can be hit and miss it is very enjoyable for a number of reasons mainly due to the interesting set up, great performances and offbeat tone. The film is about a single night on New Year's Eve in a failing hotel and follows Ted the only bellhop on duty on his first night in the job. However the job isn't as simple as it first appears as Ted goes through a number of unusual events and meetings in four very different hotel rooms. These include meeting a coven of witches in 'The Missing Ingredient', being held at gun point in 'The Wrong Man', having to look after two energetic children in 'The Misbehaviours' and being drawn into a crazy bet in 'The Man From Hollywood'. The story is wild and all over the place as to be expected in this type of film. The first story is funny in parts, while the second betters it with some really funny dialogue. The latter two are the best, the third is full of energy and the last is typical witty Tarantino.The cast is very good. Tim Roth is simply magnificent as Ted and is the best thing about the film. It's a very different performance for Roth as he's allowed to go over the top and manic, but he makes himself very likable which is key as he is the only actor in every story. Antonio Banderas is very funny in a more conventional role, David Proval makes for a great nutcase, Jennifer Beals is good and Marisa Tomei is fun in her short appearance. While in the last story the trio of Tarantino, Paul Calderon and Bruce Willis are just brilliant.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.
kepeb
I have just revisited the movie, after around 15 years, Hoping for a new perspective. I would like to say I won't be revisiting it again but sadly the memory of it being THIS bad (next to even the poorest efforts from Tarantino or Rodriguez) made me question my original opinion enough to watch it again tonight...That was a mistake. Let this review be a reminder to my future self: The Casting is some of the worst I can recall. Tim Roth minces around like a prison wife, Clearly the direction intended was hammy but this is a pig. Just watching him on the phone to the children made me embarrassed for him as an actor. The only segment that didn't directly insult the viewers intelligence was the last, Tarantino makes his trademark 'cameo' with far too many over-thought lines, and enough 'in-gags' to choke an 'in'.The elements that were intended to be risky or provocative were tame even by 95' standards. It's a low ball offer as a movie and I can't recommend it. Which is a shame because I Am a big fan of many Tarantino/Rodriguez movies. Especially the collaborations. Oh well.
eddie052010
An anthology film is often an interesting watch. Seeing as how multiple directors come together to create a project, if often gets people curious as to how each director's individual style meshes with the others, and what the finished film is like because of that. Sadly, most of the time, anthology films fail miserably, as the styles of each director are too different from one another to truly gel, meaning that while there may be standout parts here and there, they often don't work as complete films. Four Rooms unfortunately is one of the prime examples of this. While nowhere near as bad its initial hostile critical reaction would have you believe, the film is still very problematic.The story is that Ted the Bellhop is asked to look after a hotel during New Year's Eve and while there has to deal with multiple situations including a convent of witches, a hostage situation involving an angry husband, babysitting for a gangster's children & a bunch of drunken Hollywood stars and directors having a very dangerous bet. That is the basic story of the film, with four segments in the film directed by a different person for each. Connecting these stories is Ted the Bellhop, who is one of the film's major problems. Tim Roth delivers one of his worst performances to date as Ted, hamming it up every chance he gets, and gets annoying rather quickly. While the film is a comedy, it isn't as wacky or as farcical as Roth plays it, lacking the restraint and subtly that all the other actors have, which clearly shows that he wasn't well directed, acting like something out of Fawlty Towers, and considering the seriousness of some scenes, feels widely out of place. All of this makes Ted not only not funny, but very annoying and hard to care for, and you'll wish for him to go away as soon as possible.Each story varies in quality, although none of them are better than decent. The first one is The Missing Ingredient (directed by Allison Anders), whereby Ted has to have sex with a witch in order to create the ingredient needed in order to reverse the spell put on the coven's goddess Diana 40 years prior. It's about as ridiculous as it sounds. While it may appeal to some art-house fans, it is very corny, silly and cheesy. It is watchable though, acted well enough (Roth being the exception) and has a quirky charm to it that keeps you entertained throughout.The second segment is The Wrong Man (directed by Alexandre Rockwell), and is honestly the worst segment of this film by a country mile. I'll go as far as to say it is one of the worst things ever put on a cinema screen. It consists of Roth going into the wrong room for delivery service and encounters an angry husband with a gun, and believes Ted to be the one who slept with his wife. Everyone acts way over-the-top in a non-comedic scenario (making the piece tonally confused), has multiple plot holes (Why does the angry husband go into the bathroom during a hostage situation, giving Ted the perfect opportunity to free his wife or call the police? Why doesn't Ted take advantage of this either, or after he leaves for that matter? Why does the wife mock and taunt her angry gun-wielding husband?) and has some forced ambiguity about the husband's homosexuality that is never explored. It is frankly unwatchable, and considering that Rockwell was the one who had the idea for the film in the first place, leads me to believe that he made a terrible film, knew it and dragged in the other directors to make other segments to hope no-one would notice it. Sadly, they did and it is no wonder that Rockwell hasn't worked much since the film came out.The other two are the closet thing this film gets to decent. The Misbehavers (directed by Robert Rodriguez) is about Ted looking after some gangster's kids, with the instruction of not letting them misbehave. They do, and what follows maybe a one-joke skit, but it is quite funny, and the child actors are very good (Roth is thankfully restrained). It's unpleasantness towards the end (a dead hooker being found for example) may stop it from becoming great, but this is the best segment and it's punchline is priceless.The final segment is The Man from Hollywood (directed by Quentin Tarantino), whereby Ted goes to a room of famous Hollywood actors and directors playing a drunken bet to chop off someone's finger for a $1,000 and Ted gets involved in the process. While funny and well acted, this is the most pointless segment in the film as it builds up to the bet and then just ends very aburptly, as if nothing happened. Yeah, no negative psychological side effects can come from chopping off from someone's finger. Makes sense to me.Overall, this is just a failed experiment whose segments are widely uneven in terms of quality, the film is really smug at points and the thing connecting them together is really irritating and hard to care for. All of this combined makes this film something which while OK and not as bad as the critics at time would have you believe, isn't very good and it's no wonder why everyone involved has been actively trying to forget it ever happened. Sadly, it does and stands as a strong example as to why anthology film often don't work, as despite the talent behind camera, you often get overcooked messes like this. For curiosity's sake only.
