Four Rooms (1995)

I missed this on initial release, despite being a fan of all four directors, and have somehow missed it on video/DVD/TV in the intervening years. With The Hateful Eight coming out soon I've been re-watching all of Tarantino's work so far and decided to fill in the one gap in my collection. I simply can't believe how bad this film is. Every bit of it fails. It's not funny, it's not interesting, it's not any good! From the opening cartoon titles and terrible music it felt poorly constructed. But that's nothing compared to the actors. Tim Roth is awful! His strangely mannered performance is embarrassing with no comic timing. You can't blame him entirely though. Everyone (with the exception of Jennifer Beals and Marisa Tomei) is terrible. Every line falls flat. I'm still in shock how awful the finished film is considering the talent involved. If you're a fan of Tarantino's, of any of the actors in this or of cinema in general avoid this like Ebola!

Fmovies: Like many I got suckered into watching this film from the list of stars and director/writers (esp Tarantino) that participated in this exercise.

I had no idea that it was *this* bad. It starts with the common thread, the bellboy, Tim Roth. It seemed like he was trying to be the British incarnation of Don Knotts trying to be Jerry Lewis. It was one of the most annoying and incomprehensibly bad performances, I've ever seen from a mainstream actor.

He gets no help from what passes for plot. The first two stories seemed like they came from a 10 second pre-improv conference. The third plot was a shaggy dog story that could have worked had it been better executed and the fourth one, Tarantino's, to be fair actually sustained about 5 minutes of interest - unfortunately at the very end of the movie after 90+ minutes of endless torture.

Those last 2 plots might have been worthwhile except for the smarmy self-indulgent performances of the stars. Tarantino is not as nearly as clever or funny as he thinks he is, and neither is Willis. The strongest performance might have been that of Banderas who almost rescued the third segment with his self-mocking playfulness.

Overall, it felt like I was at one of those bad improv theatres where the actors know the only people in the audience are drunk/stoned friends, family and fanboys. If that doesn't describe you - stay far away from this mess. It really is *that* bad.

Even from the start, we have the Tarantino vibe here, although he's only partly responsible for the film. Different room, different writer/director. Tim Roth is to carry this film, and he really does get on your nerves, and even though he acts absurdly, over the top, off the wall, in a totally unrealistic (well, he's not the only one) character, it's what the role calls for, and in that context, he succeeds brilliantly. Watching him lose it, was the strongest moments. It's New Years Eve, and being the new bell boy, like the Gekko Brothers at The Titty Twister, Ted (don't call him Theodore) (Roth) he's got one hell of a night ahead of him. Lets start with the covern (not oven) of witches, where we get to see Ione's Skye's slightly pathetic boobs. A ceremony of bologne is in in the waiting. This is the weakest one of the four stories. Things get weirder and much more intense, as we move onto the lover's quarrel, where poor Ted as just having pashed Ione Skye, hits more serious waters, unwittingly getting in the middle, of this mad couple problems of infidelity, where the husband holds Teddy at gunpoint. Finally surviving these two nutjobs, where we do have a second serve from one of them (the less threatening) later on, we move onto The Misbehavers which provide a bizarre and stylishly different scenario, I liked, where finally we come to the main story we've all been waiting for, about a director, played by.... have a guess? and his entourage, who really set a good example of what stupid things people do, when they're drunk, minus a pinkie. Tarantino really steals the moments here, acting not like an actor, but a director acting like a director with a lot of CU shots, where his presence holds are complete attention. He's eloquent and his body language is fantastic. I just love watching him trying to act, but he's just being him, comparing movie's what not. He shows up the other writers with his input of dialogue, though of course, more suited behind a camera, despite his awesome confidence in front of it. Yes, that was the worst club sandwich I've ever seen too. Four Rooms is certainly different with same truly impressive performances, which I will note because they deserve credit, beside Roth who's wonderful of course. Refer by Surname: Skye, Proval, Beals especially, Wills especially, Banderas, Tomei. If a QT fan, don't pass it off. It's animation in the opening credits is a killer.

Four Rooms fmovies. Four Rooms, the 4 part directed, 4 part written mix-matched movie turns out to be an awesome combination. With Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino working on this film, you seem to expect a trigger-happy film festival with plenty of bombs and explosives to spare. But what the final product turns out to be is a laugh-out-loud comedy which follows a bellhop's mishaps one night as he scrambles to keep his hotel in order. Tim Roth is always a great performer and in this movie there is no difference. Kudos indeed.

Four Rooms (1995/Allison Anders; Alexandre Rockwell; Robert Rodriguez; Quentin Tarantino) **1/2 out of ****

Welcome to the Mon Signor Hotel! Once a major hang out spot for movie stars of the 30's, 40's and first part of the 50's, it is now an out of date fire hazard, and it is falling apart! But on New Years Eve, a new bellhop will have the craziest night of his life in this very hotel.

When I was thinking of Tarantino flicks to purchase, "Four Rooms" came to my mind. At first I was hesitant, and for good reason. After all, I had read nothing but bad reviews for this film. But what I found in it was a bizarre little comedy that wasn't so bad after all.

"Four Rooms" is an anthology film with four 'episodes' about a fading hotel on News Years Eve, and with a quirky bellhop named Ted (Tim Roth) and his misadventures on this one crazy night. The first episode entitled "The Missing Ingredient" is about a group of witches staying in the hotel who need some sperm in order to complete a spell. And guess who knocks on the door...Ted the bellhop! The next episode, "The Wrong Man" is a shorter episode about Ted getting mistaken for another man. This is certainly the strangest of the episodes. Then next comes the hilarious "The Misbehavers". Ted is asked to babysit two kids of a Mexican gangster (Antonio Banderas in a parody of himself), and how everything possible can go wrong. And the final episode, "The Man From Hollywood" (the best) is directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is about a cocky Hollywood new-comer (Tarantino also in a parody of himself) who rents out the Penthouse for New Years Eve, and then plays a dangerous game that ends the film in a very funny way.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with this film. After reading all the bad reviews, I was afraid I wouldn't like this it, but it wasn't as bad as they said. Rent it if your curious or bored, but don't buy it expecting it to be like other Tarantino films. Not bad, not great, just average.

-30-

I really don't understand why this film hasn't got a better rating. I mean, it's got everything: Women, cars, weapons, alcohol and Tarantino. It's just style itsself which made this film. Seriously, Tim Roth is so damn good in this film, his acting, his expressions and his behavior, all is perfect. You can have a good laugh about without even following the storyline (which is worth doing that, but anyway). The film is profound and the and the different parts of it are linked. Great film.