THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 1, 1996 TAG: 9512300046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
SEE QUENTIN Tarantino, last year's sensation, crash his career! See Madonna play a witch in a rubber mermaid dress! See Jennifer Beals get bound and gagged by her husband! See a man throw up on Tim Roth! See Bruce Willis make a bet involving cutting off someone's pinkie finger!
See, most of all, a number of Hollywood's most promising young names make fools of themselves!
The attractions of ``Four Rooms'' sound more like threats than promises. This is a movie that is so bad that it must be seen.
You get four stories for the price of one, but only one of the four is remotely humorous. With the others, the only real timekiller is wondering just how far they will go.
Four of the industry's most promising ``independent'' directors were allowed to write their own scripts and direct their own segment for this anthology - all set in a kinky Los Angeles hotel called Mon Signor on New Year's Eve. Because Tarantino, still riding on the acclaim from ``Pulp Fiction,'' sent out the call, hordes of the fringe Hollywood crowd coveted a part in it. They are the stars, and directors, who want to be hip at all costs.
Their desperation shows throughout.
There is one funny scene in ``Four Rooms,'' when Antonio Banderas, as a deadly serious macho gangster-type, returns to his hotel room and finds it totally wrecked by his two children, who had been left in the care of a bellhop. For a two-hour comedy, though, one laugh is hardly enough.
The connecting force between all four rooms, and all four sketches, is Tim Roth in the role of Ted, the frantic bellhop. Roth, who was so good as the villain in ``Rob Roy'' earlier this year, takes dangerous chances by making the character eccentric to the extreme - effeminate, flighty, frantic and constantly befuddled. You have to admire him for going all the way with it.
Let's go shopping amongst the four rooms.
The first segment is the worst. It is called ``The Missing Ingredient'' and is directed by Allison Anders (``Gas Food Lodging''). It involves a coven of witches seeking to bring back to life a blond witch who expired while spanking another blond witch. The witches, who dance around half naked and look silly, include Madonna, Valeria Golina, Ione Skye and Lili Taylor.
The second, which is even more ludicrous, is called ``Wrong Man.'' Bellhop Ted ambles into a room in which a husband has bound and gagged wife Jennifer Beals. The man kisses Ted and the wife, once her gag is removed, spouts out, for no apparent reason, dozens of synonyms for the word ``penis.'' This is directed by Alexandre Rockwell, who happens to be married to Beals. If this doesn't end the marriage, nothing will.
Part III, though, is better. In fact, as directed by Robert Rodriguez, it achieves the mischievous eccentricity the movie sought. Banderas, as a tough guy, gives the bellhop $500 to watch his two kids. While he is gone, the children go wild. The bellhop's increasing frustration is laughable to watch.
The last installment was one of the most eagerly awaited because it is the first time Tarantino has directed since his Oscar-nominated ``Pulp Fiction.'' It's called ``The Man from Hollywood'' and, bravely or foolishly, has Tarantino playing a filmmaker who is giddy about overnight success. The plot is from a famous ``Twilight Zone'' episode - the one in which Peter Lorre bet Steve McQueen a new sports car that a cigarette lighter wouldn't light 10 times out of 10.
Bruce Willis makes a cameo appearance (paying in full his debt for the good role in ``Pulp Fiction''). The references to pop culture and old movies, which sounded so natural in ``Pulp Fiction,'' sound strained here.
If the Chinese had their Gang-of-Four, Western Civilization has its ``Four Rooms.'' It's questionable which got the worst of the bargain. In any case, this is one of the more interesting disasters of the waning film year. It's just bad enough to be required viewing. MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW ``FOUR ROOMS''
Cast: Tim Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Madonna, Jennifer Beals, Antonio
Banderas, Lili Taylor, Valeria Golina, Bruce Willis, Marisa Tomei
Directors: Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Allison Anders,
Alexandre Rockwell
MPAA rating: R (language and more language, topless scenes,
violence)
Mal's rating: two stars
Locations: Lynnhaven, R/C Columbus in Virginia Beach ILLUSTRATION: MIRAMAX photo
From left, Bruce Willis, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Calderon and
Jennifer Beals star in ``Four Rooms.''
by CNB