FOUR ROOMS

1/2

Warning: the half-star comes only from the novelty of these four particular directors teaming up for this lousy farce. I can no longer remember which segment(s) got even satisfactory reviews. I think there was only one, and it wasn't Tarantino's. Oddly enough, his was the only one I thought even partly interesting. And that was mostly because it was so play-like. A demented one-act preceded by three unusually bad green-shows.

 This movie is viciously ugly. The humor is not only not funny, it is also repellant. It wouldn't have lasted for more than 10 minutes on my VCR if it weren't for the maybe the next segment is better thought that kept slapping me awake.

 I don't know what this stuff passes as--certainly not art, nor entertainment. It is mollifying that I wasn't the only one who noticed (unlike FARGO, another film I thought was vicious--but which everyone else seemed to find humorous. That's not a good sign).

 It's not even that each segment was bad in its own way. Every single one suffered from the same grotesque idiocy. They were violent and filthy. Now, I've seen violent and filthy done in an intense and gripping way, and I've seen FARGO. These were neither. No suspense in the parts that were supposed to be suspenseful, no levity in the "light" moments (were any intended?). These little disasters displayed neither the filmmaking skill unfortunately evident in FARGO, nor the gut-level drama that Hollywood usually saves this atmosphere for.

 The star. Tim Roth is a very good actor, possible one of the great modern actors, judging by his outstanding turn as the villain in ROB ROY. But his performance in this show was not only bad, it was really irritating as well. He got on my nerves in a big way. I kept wondering how the directors coordinated his performance to end up with such an evenly perturbing character throughout the movie.

 If you can't think of anything better to do than rent this film, try getting a head start on your taxes, or maybe just going to bed and getting some extra sleep. Even if you're not tired, your time will have been much better spent.