The Tarantino segment is incredible, it's probably my favourite thing that he's written/directed, and it's easily the best he's ever acted (which, given the fact that he's basically playing himself, isn't all that impressive). The Rodriguez segment was decent, but it's just a real shame about the rest of the movie. With a better first half this definitely could have become a cult classic, particularly with the lighter scene.
Tarantino's part (the last one) is just an incredible cinematic feat imo. The lighter scene is amazing as well (in Tarantino's part). The rest was good.
I get what Four Rooms is doing - even without Tarantino putting a big, unnecessary neon sign over it in the fourth act - an homage to the goofy comedies of the 60s, specifically Jerry Lewis', but did anyone think to ask if we still wanted stuff like that in the 90s (or today)? Four very modern writer-directors trying to do this kind of shtick... It might even have worked if Tim Roth weren't doing a weird cartoon performance, often at odds with the rest of the material. He's a Jerry Lewis character out of time, and though he has his moments, especially once his polite facade starts to break over this insane New Year's Eve, it's mostly distracting. Each of the directors brings at least one of their alumni with them - Allison Anders has Ione Skye (Gas Food Lodging), Alexandre Rockwell has Jennifer Beals (In the Soup), Robert Rodriguez of course uses Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayek (see if you can spot her), and Tarantino has an uncredited Bruce Willis and, uhm, himself. To evaluate each segment, the first is the best fit - in terms of tone and humor - for this attempt at pastiche. Anders has the bellhop interact with a coven of witches, which feels like a missing chapter of Anna Biller's The Love Witch. Rockwell's absurdist scene in which the bellhop walks into a strange marital(?) situation works for me, but is the one most hurt by Roth's mugging. Rodriguez's segment, in which the bellhop must babysit two misbehaving kids is by far the best - think Spy Kids, but the trappings are crime pictures like Tarantino's (look at that foot-smelling bit and tell me Rodriguez wasn't taking the piss out of the movie's producer!). And finally, there's Tarantino playing a rich movie mogul, and though it's well done (especially the final moment), it's the thinnest of the stories and isn't in the same league, narratively, as the others. In this grab bag, only one segment works as a short story, two feel like they should be scenes in longer movies, and the last is just an indulgence.
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Comments 1 - 9 of 9
VChile
Roth being quirky for quirk's sake took me right out of this.Litso
Hated the first half, loved the second.I-check-therefore-I-am
For those who enjoy macabre bets:Alfred Hitchcock presents... Man from the South
lachyas
The Tarantino segment is incredible, it's probably my favourite thing that he's written/directed, and it's easily the best he's ever acted (which, given the fact that he's basically playing himself, isn't all that impressive). The Rodriguez segment was decent, but it's just a real shame about the rest of the movie. With a better first half this definitely could have become a cult classic, particularly with the lighter scene.Goxe
I quite enjoyed it, a great performance from Roth, and a very creative movie, the second half was better though.Abby_Colina
One of the craziest movies I've seen.Jumping Elephant
Tarantino's part (the last one) is just an incredible cinematic feat imo. The lighter scene is amazing as well (in Tarantino's part). The rest was good.daisyaday
http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi785226777/Siskoid
I get what Four Rooms is doing - even without Tarantino putting a big, unnecessary neon sign over it in the fourth act - an homage to the goofy comedies of the 60s, specifically Jerry Lewis', but did anyone think to ask if we still wanted stuff like that in the 90s (or today)? Four very modern writer-directors trying to do this kind of shtick... It might even have worked if Tim Roth weren't doing a weird cartoon performance, often at odds with the rest of the material. He's a Jerry Lewis character out of time, and though he has his moments, especially once his polite facade starts to break over this insane New Year's Eve, it's mostly distracting. Each of the directors brings at least one of their alumni with them - Allison Anders has Ione Skye (Gas Food Lodging), Alexandre Rockwell has Jennifer Beals (In the Soup), Robert Rodriguez of course uses Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayek (see if you can spot her), and Tarantino has an uncredited Bruce Willis and, uhm, himself. To evaluate each segment, the first is the best fit - in terms of tone and humor - for this attempt at pastiche. Anders has the bellhop interact with a coven of witches, which feels like a missing chapter of Anna Biller's The Love Witch. Rockwell's absurdist scene in which the bellhop walks into a strange marital(?) situation works for me, but is the one most hurt by Roth's mugging. Rodriguez's segment, in which the bellhop must babysit two misbehaving kids is by far the best - think Spy Kids, but the trappings are crime pictures like Tarantino's (look at that foot-smelling bit and tell me Rodriguez wasn't taking the piss out of the movie's producer!). And finally, there's Tarantino playing a rich movie mogul, and though it's well done (especially the final moment), it's the thinnest of the stories and isn't in the same league, narratively, as the others. In this grab bag, only one segment works as a short story, two feel like they should be scenes in longer movies, and the last is just an indulgence.