Tim Roth minces camply round the corridors of a fizzled-out hotel in this hit-and-miss assembly of shorts from a hit-and-miss assembly of directors.
As Ted the bellhop, the mugging Roth is by far the most watchable thing about this bizarre flick, whether hes staring nervously down the barrel of a gun, frantically attempting to keep a pair of meddlesome kiddies in check, or lending his man juice to a coven of scantily-clad witches (Madonna among them).
Unfortunately, taken as a whole, Four Rooms is effectively little more than a self-congratulating showcase for the varying directorial talents of Quentin Tarantino and three of his buddies. As the title suggests, four different stories take place in four of the hotels rooms: in The Missing Ingredient, Allison Anders struggles to make any point of her witchy-women scenario; Alexandre Rockwell brings us a similarly nonsensical tale of a jealous husband in The Wrong Man; Robert Rodriguez provides easily the best segment with the comical The Misbehavers; Tarantino himself gets all dialogue-heavy with some tripe about a ciggy-lighter and a finger in The Man From Hollywood. None of the four tales link particularly well, and the clunky switches between shooting styles can make for an uneven viewing experience.
The good thing is its all fairly light-hearted stuff, and Roth isnt the only performer appearing with tongue-in-cheek. Antonio Banderas delivers a cracking little self-parody as a grumpy parent, Tarantino goes gleefully OTT as a Tinsel Town big-shot, and even Bruce Willis gets in on the act as a Hollywood hanger-on. Its worth a visit, if not a stay.