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Movie of the Week #10 - Four Rooms
We begin the new year with a movie that takes place on new year's eve with Four Rooms from 1995. Written and directed by four direcors - Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.
How was the movie as a whole? Were there any of the four segments that you particularly liked - or hated?
Rest of schedule for January is:
- 8th: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
- 15th: City Lights
- 22nd: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On
- 29th: The Iron Giant
Finally sat down to rewatch this, and it was perfect for nursing my NY hang over. It wasn't laugh out loud funny (which was actually preferable due to my headache), but snorts of amusement were elicited all throughout.
IMO the third story with Antonio Banderas and the two kids was by far the best one, and I could have watched a whole movie with just those characters interacting with Tim Roth's bellhop character. The first story was by far the weakest and I could take or leave it. The second was absurd, uncomfortable, awkward (as intended) and David Proval was great in it. And the last started out great with the Marisa Tomei part, but the hotel room with Tarantino dragged on for way too long, and felt like a waste of Bruce Willis' talent... but the ending was great, and made up for it.
Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy it, @winther. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I totally agree that Tim Roth held the whole thing together though. Without his impeccable physical and vocal comedy, everything would have fallen totally flat.
I wouldn't say I've been meaning to watch this, more-so that I've been aware of it's existence for over ten years at this point. I'm pretty sure I found out about it in a WatchMojo list, I can't remember what the specific list was but it was about bad movies.
I was really only ever interested in this due to Tarantino's involvement with it, and Rodriguez's involvement to a lesser extent. But the concept did fascinate me.
The first segment is god awful. It's not funny in any way, it's boring, it's lame. The second segment I liked more. I thought it was more interestingly shot, and I laughed, primarily because of Roth's performance and his physicality. It doesn't really have a punchline though.
I agree that the Rodriguez segment is the best. It's interesting because it's basically the foundation for Spy Kids. Rodriguez put the same combing hair scene in Spy Kids, with almost the exact same dialogue. This also has the family being interracial and the brother-sister dynamic that is present in Spy Kids. I had no idea he basically used these ideas here first. It makes me wonder what an R-rated version of those films would look like.
The Tarantino scene was also mostly boring. The only thing that I liked about it was Tomei, and I do not understand why she wasn't in all his films after this. But she got stuck in this and in his failed Broadway debut. I know Tarantino really wanted to be an actor, but he just was not good. Okay, maybe that's not fair. He was okay in From Dusk Till Dawn and was funny in Little Nicky. But even in his Pulp Fiction cameo he delivers the lines so awkwardly. He was not a strong enough actor to deliver his own writing, and especially not strong enough to reach the level of thespian that he so clearly wanted to be. And I think even he realized this eventually once he gave up on his acting dream.
I'm glad I watched this at least. I think this probably would have delivered more interesting results if the other two filmmakers were... good. And if Tarantino had done a different story with more going on instead of just giving himself a bunch of lines.
Four Rooms has always been a movie I proselytize for, so I am biased, but Tarintino's room is the weakest to me. His direction and acting style works, don't get me wrong, but it's long bouts of talking mixed with sudden and graphic violence - which Four Rooms lacks the second half. The violence is implied! C'mon Quentin, the man who would later go to show Hitler's face being gunned to bits didn't show the finger... After we had the dead whore in the mattress! Legitimately, if the rooms were reordered, maybe put Tarintino's after Rockwell's and ending with Rodriguez, I'd probably think it's a perfect movie.
"Did you misbehave?" and "I got fucked by some witches!" are personal high points for me - really wish we had more movies like it. Almost like a frantic, profane Mr. Bean sketch.
I know critic reception wasn't great but I went into it blind and love it. It's an excellent example of the difference in style a director brings and just a good series of short stories. I agree that it wouldn't work if played any other way.
Wow, that is the perfect description for Four Rooms! I even had the exact same reaction to Four Rooms I typically have to watching Mr. Bean... no uproarious laughter, but plenty of snorts of amusement, while smiling at the absurdity of it.
Got a chance to watch this last week for the first time and I enjoyed 75% of it. "The Man from Hollywood" was the weakest of the set, which I see a lot of people agree with. I'm glad to know it wasn't just me. "The Misbehavers" was my favorite but "The Missing Ingredient" was a close second. "The Wrong Man" was a bit unnerving to watch and didn't really resolve in my mind, which may be why it was so unnerving.
Tim Roth was perfect for the role and his physical comedy made the lack of dialogue even better. It was a great pick for the first week of the New Year and after an insanely busy holiday and work season.
I can see why this is a somewhat divisive movie among critics, because the four segments are very uneven in my opinion. The first two are outright horrible and I didn't find them funny in any way. The third directed by Rodriguez is by far, with a huge margin, the best. It has surprises, original humor, an actual narrative of sorts and great performances from the two kids. The last Tarantino segment is okay, with the small part by Bruce Willis being my favorite actually. Tarantino himself talks too much and everything leads up to a rather predictable climax, but the ending credits hallway scene was kinda amusing.
I think I would have found this way funnier back in the 90s, but today it mostly comes off as juvenile and not funny. Tim Roth's walk alone saves quite a bit though.