Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
When Sara, a young design student from Iowa, arrives for college in Los Angeles, she is eager to fit in and get to know the big city. Her wealthy roommate, Rebecca, is more than eager to take Sara under her wing and show her the ropes. The two become close, but when Sara begins to branch out and make more friends on campus, Rebecca becomes resentful. Alarmed, Sara moves in with her new boyfriend, causing Rebecca's behavior to take a violent turn.
The Roommate is a formulaic Single White Female clone transplanted to a college campus setting, offering little originality in its obsessive-roommate thriller premise. The plot hits every predictable beat without surprise or tension, the acting from the young cast is largely flat and unconvincing, and the cinematography is competent but generic studio thriller fare. The ending resolves things in the most obvious way possible. Its only modest saving grace is a passable production polish, but the film is fundamentally derivative and forgettable.