Four Rooms (1995)

Four Rooms is really four short movies presented as one feature.  Each of the four parts has a different director but all have the same setting and main character.  They deal with Ted, a new bellboy at a large old hotel and his first night on the job, which just happens to be New Years Eve.  In the first part of the movie a coven of witches gather in the honeymoon suite to try to break a spell cast on the head of the coven forty years earlier.  Unfortunately they are missing one of the ingredients they need for their counter spell and they look to the Bellboy to help supply it.  In the second part of the movie, Ted the Bellboy mistakenly enters a room with an angry gun wielding husband and his wife who is tied up in a chair.  The husband believes that Ted has been having an affair with his wife and the situation becomes rather tense and strange.  Ted the Bellboy survives it, obviously, because there are two more parts to the movie.  The third part of the movie deals with Ted the Bellboy taking care of two children while their parents are out at a party.  Everything that can go wrong does, especially when a surprise is found in the mattress of the hotel room’s bed.  The parents return to find Ted the Bellboy and the children in a rather awkward situation.  After that, Ted is ready to quit his job, but while he is on the phone with his boss the penthouse calls down and she begs him to take care of the hotels most important guests needs before he leaves.  Ted agrees and heads up to the room with the odd assortment of items they called down to request.  After much talking (Quentin Tarantino directed this bit so it needed lots of witty dialog) Ted the Bellboy is convinced to help them out with a rather unusual bet that they have made.

Really, this is more like four good short movies rather than one long movie.  Each has it's own appeal and flavor but they are all connected in the overall storyline and mesh well with one another.  Tim Roth is excellent as Ted the Bellboy and his acting is one of the main contributing factors in making this movie as good as it is.  The other actors and actresses in it are great as well and include Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Bruce Willis and more!  The stories, dialog, setting and everything else come together perfectly and I think the directors were trying to outdo one another in their own segments which just makes for a great film to watch.

This is one movie you just have to check out.  It's an awesome comedy with substance and will leave you satisfied but wanting more.  I had a great time watching this movie and it's one that is fun to watch over and over.  So pick up a copy and watch it whenever you need a break from the horror flicks (which knowing this crowd probably won't be too often).

3 ½ out of 4

Reviewed by Scott Schwarzwalder

© Copyright 2009 John Shatzer