ManOfSaturn
Room isn't a very good movie. The first time I heard of it, I thought they were remaking Tommy Wiseau's classic "The Room". It's too bad that's not what ended up happening, because that would've actually been kind of interesting.The movie starts off okay with a setting no movie has ever had before: the inside of a tiny shed. In this shed lives an annoyed lady and her extremely irritating son with really long hair. The lady hates the shed, but the boy is like "nah, it's cool." The lady complains that the shed is small and stinky, to which the boy argues "it doesn't stink! Only when you fart!" (Wow, what great dialogue...) The annoyed lady and the dumb boy are the captives of a really stupid guy who looks like a real-life version of Ned Flanders. Like, seriously, this guy is one of the least intimidating antagonists I've seen in any piece of media ever. You expect me to believe THIS guy abducted somebody? He looks like he couldn't abduct a ham sandwich! Anyway, through an absolutely ridiculous escape plan, the boy and his mom are rescued and Ned Flanders is sent to the slammer. That sounds like a good end to the story, right? Through the power of love, the daring mother and son overcome their miserable situation, and though this experience has traumatized them, they're now safe from the Ned Flanders lookalike. Love conquers all, good triumphs over evil, yadda yadda yadda. But then, I checked the running time, and there's still another HOUR left! Like...what? You got out of the shed. What left is there? You got out! The movie is called "Room", and you left the room! Why is the movie still going? Why didn't you just end it there? Why?! The rest of the movie, where the mom and kid are NOT in Room and are now trying to cope with the outside world is just a cliché, boring drama where people yell at each other and get mildly annoyed with each other over the stupidest things. It's so melodramatic and cheesy I felt I was watching a soap opera. A BAD soap opera. At the very end of the movie, they go back to the shed. For some reason. Yeah, go back to the place you suffered for years. Bring back all the suppresed memories and trauma. That's a great idea. The boy then says goodbye to Room (as if it would say "hey, see you later, bro" back to him...), and the mom mouths it because it's so much more artsy to have dialogue be inaudible than to actually hear it. Roll credits. The best word to describe this movie is "annoying". It's such an unpleasant experience to sit through, be it intentional or not. The worst part of this movie is probably the boy, who is one of the most grating characters I've ever seen in my life. Aside from the way he talks like an alien, which I know is intentional but that doesn't make it any less annoying, he's always screaming! There's this one really annoying but thankfully short scene where the kid and his mom are just yelling at the top of their lungs, to hopefully get someone's attention so they can be freed, and the kid is yelling so loudly it actually made my ears hurt. Thanks, Room. Thanks for causing me physical pain. You jerk.The dialogue sucks (again, that "only when you fart!" line), the music is bland and forgettable, and the movie just lacks any style or depth. Everything is straight forward, and I know it's based on a book, but there are barely any attempts at visual storytelling. It's just a dry, lifeless movie. Kinda like The Village, but not AS bad or stupid. Overall, I got nothing from this movie. I didn't feel anything, I didn't learn anything, and I just didn't care about anything. It just felt like a huge waste of time. If the mom did the sensible thing and stab her captor in the face (with the knife she is somehow allowed to keep in the room) the second he stepped in the room, this movie would be like 20 minutes long and infinitely more interesting. Oh, well. Boring melodramas are what are all the rage with audiences, I guess.Goodbye, Room.
ymunoz1989
Let me just start by saying that ALL of the actors did a fantastic job in portraying their characters. It's a really sad movie. My heart was beating so fast when the boy was in the back of Old Nick's truck. I was literally at the edge of my feet. It also brought tears to my eyes when Grandma tells Ma that she wasn't the only one whose life was destroyed. I felt that. Because as a mom, as horrible as it sounds, you'd much rather know your child has passed rather than know that they're probably still out there being tortured, beaten, raped, sold, etc. and you don't know where. I can only imagine how antagonizing that must be. How do you find closure never knowing what happened to your child? This movie is really good. I like how Jack narrates the story because it shows how a little boy his age makes sense of things, how he gathers up what he knows and build his logic based upon that. He's so innocent, yet so smart. I love how his character develops from being a secluded boy to being out in the big world.
how-64844
I always read reviews before I write my own to recheck that I'm not being too subjective with my judgments. I found the movie captivating, possibly because I haven't made the same close connection as Jack did with his mom and it really pulled at my heartstrings. It's surprising though how people rate it low, citing plotholes and questions that were actually answered in the movie. I'm a big reader of crime news and Ma's story and reasons for her actions were very believable and reasonable. The first half of the story was very thrilling and the second half actually falls a bit flat, but it's a realistic representation of life. People who expect things to continue with "and they live happily ever after" will be disappointed.The story is also meant to be seen as it is - focused on the psyche of the two main characters. If you want to go deeper than that, then make your own movie. Overall, I think it's well-done and it deserved the recognition it got.
