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Four Rooms
Directed by	Allison Anders Alexandre Rockwell Robert Rodriguez Quentin Tarantino
Produced by	Lawrence Bender
Written by	Allison Anders Alexandre Rockwell Robert Rodriguez Quentin Tarantino
Starring	Tim Roth Madonna Valeria Golino Jennifer Beals Antonio Banderas Tamlyn Tomita Bruce Willis Quentin Tarantino Marisa Tomei
Music by	Combustible Edison Esquivel
Cinematography	Rodrigo García Buillermo Navarro Phil Parmet Andrzej Sekula
Editing by	Margie Goodspeed Elena Maganini Sally Menke Robert Rodriguez
Studio	A Band Apart
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	December 25, 1995
Running time	102 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4 000 000
Gross revenue	$4,257,354

Four Rooms is a 1995 anthology film telling four stories set in a Los Angeles hotel on New Year's Eve. Tim Roth stars as the principal character of the frame tale; he also takes part to a greater or lesser degree in the four stories, which feature Quentin Tarantino, Antonio Banderas and Madonna, among others.

The movie was directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino with each of them directing one segment of the film. Original music by Combustible Edison.

Plot

The film opens with Sam, an elderly bellhop, instructing the newcomer Ted, about his job before retiring on New Year's Eve.

Honeymoon Suite - The Missing Ingredient

• Written and directed by Allison Anders

Ted assists a number of unusual women transport their bags up to the honeymoon suite. He learns that they are a coven of witches, brewing a potion to reverse a spell placed on their goddess forty years ago. In order to create the potion, each witch must place an ingredient into a large cauldron during a ritual. However, one of the witches has failed to bring semen and is now charged by the other witches to obtain it. The witch manages to seduce an initially reluctant Ted and has sex with him in the cauldron. After he leaves, the witches complete the ritual and the goddess emerges from the cauldron.

Room 404 - The Wrong Man

• Written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell

Two drunken party guests call room service to get some ice. They are confused about whether they are on the fourth or the fifth but eventually direct Ted to room 404, where he finds himself in the middle of fantasy hostage situation between a husband and wife. Siegfried, the husband, angrily accuses Ted (whom he calls Theodore) of having slept with his wife, Angela. At gun point, Ted is forced to participate in the scenario, without knowing what is real or fantasy. At one point, Ted is stuck in a bath room window and one of the drunken party guests appears in the window upstairs and almost hits Ted with his vomit. Eventually, Ted escapes just when the other drunken party guests appears, looking for room 404 and is greeted by Siegfried in the same manner.

Room 309 - The Misbehavers

• Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez

A husband and wife go out to a New Year's Eve party and leave their two children in the hotel. Ted is paid $500 to keep an eye on the children by the father, who gives them the stern warning not to misbehave. As Ted is responsible for the entire hotel, he is unable to actually stay in the room with the children, but instead instructs the children to amuse themselves by watching television. After Ted leaves, the siblings quickly begin to squabble and proceed to both explore and vandalize the room, exploding a bottle of champagne in the process. The children call for toothbrushes, at which point he delivers them stale crackers and milk and attempts unsuccessfully to put them to bed by putting ointment on their eyelids to prevent them from opening their eyes. After they wash their eyes and summon him back to the room once more, Ted stumbles into a scene of mass chaos: the walls and paintings of the bedroom are all drawn with lipstick, the boy is smoking a cigarette and watching a pornographic channel and a dead prostitute is stuffed under the mattress. While Ted tries to quell the chaos in the room he is stabbed in the leg with a syringe by the girl, the boy throws away the cigarette and sets the bedroom in fire and the children's father reenter the room and, seeing the whole scene, asks "Did they misbehave?".

After this, an unsettled Ted calls his boss, Betty, to complain about the events. Betty fell asleep during a party in her room but Ted finally gets her on the phone and announces his resignation. However, the two are interrupted by a call from the penthouse.

Penthouse - The Man from Hollywood

• Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

The penthouse is currently being occupied by the famous director Chester Rush. Ted is asked to deliver a block of wood, a doughnut, a ball of twine, three nails, a club sandwich, a bucket of ice and a hatchet as sharp as the devil himself. After getting acquainted with Chester and his friends, Ted is asked to take part in a challenge: Chester's friend Norman bet him that he can light his Zippo cigarette lighter ten times in a row. If he succeeds, he wins Chester's car, but if he fails, he loses his pinky finger. Ted is charged to act as an impartial "hatchet man" and cut off Chester's friend's finger, should he fail. Ted initially tries to leave but a $100 bill convinces him to stay and another $1000 finally persuade him to play the assigned role. Norman fails on the first try, his finger is chopped off and Ted immediately leaves with the money. While the credits are rolling, the frantic rush of Chester and company are running to get the friend to a hospital.

The plot resembles the one in Roald Dahl's "Man from the South", also adapted by Alfred Hichcock.

Linking

The four segments are shown in chronological order, except for The Misbehavers, the events of which span a longer time frame and precede and succeed the events of The Wrong Man.

There is little linkage between the segments, though Ted hangs up the two cherries received The Missing Ingredient at the beginning of The Misbehavers, echoes the witches' ritual by the expression "weird voodoo thing" in The Wrong Man and recalls the events of the preceding three segments when calling his boss. A strange telephone call in The Wrong Man is explained in the The Misbehavers and Angela from The Wrong Man reappears in the final segment.

Cast

Soundtrack

Four Rooms: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack by various artists
Released	1995
Genre	Lounge music, soundtrack
Length	49.20
Label	Elektra/Asylum
Producer	Mark Mothersbaugh Carl Plaster Combustible Edison
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Robert Rodriguez film soundtrack chronology
Four Rooms (1995) Desperado (1995)
Quentin Tarantino film soundtrack chronology
Pulp Fiction (1994) Four Rooms (1995) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

The soundtrack to Four Rooms features a score composed and performed by contemporary lounge music band Combustible Edison, co-produced by Mark Mothersbaugh. Additional music is by Juan García Esquivel.^[1][2]

Track listing

1. "Vertigogo (Opening Theme)" (Combustible Edison) – 2:35
   • Tracks 2-11 from The Missing Ingredient:
2. "Junglero" – 1:54
3. "Four Rooms Swing" – 2:11
4. "Theme From 'Bewitched'" (Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller) – 1:01
5. "Tea and Eva In The Elevator" – 0:55
6. "Invocation" – 1:26
7. "Breakfast At Denny's" – 3:57
8. "Strange Brew" – 0:27
9. "Coven Of Witches" – 0:59
10. "The Earthly Diana" – 0:36
11. "Eva Seduces Ted" – 2:10
    • Tracks 12-17 from The Wrong Man:
12. "Hallway Ted" – 0:31
13. "Headshake Rhumba" – 0:41
14. "Skippen, Pukin, Sigfried" – 0:29
15. "Angela" – 0:46
16. "Punch Drunk" – 2:57
17. "Male Bonding" – 3:06
    • Tracks 18-25 from The Misbehavers:
18. "Mariachi" – 0:29
19. "Antes De Medianoche" – 2:45
20. "Sentimental Journey" (Written by Bud Green, Les Brown and Ben Homer, performed by Esquivel) – 2:39
21. "Kids Watch TV" – 2:03
22. "Champagne and Needles" – 2:06
23. "Bullseye" – 1:01
24. "Harlem Nocturne" (Written by Earle Hagen, performed by Esquivel) – 2:30
25. "The Millionaire's Holiday" – 2:13
    • Tracks 26-29 from The Man from Hollywood:
26. "Ted-o-vater" – 0:39
27. "Vertigogo (Closing Credits)" – 5:33
28. "'D' In The Hallway Credits" – 0:25
29. "Torchy" – 0:16

Critical reception

The film did not fare well with critics, as it did with the film's audience receiving a 15% rating from Rotten Tomatoes but a 67% from moviegoers.^[3] Roger Ebert found "The Misbehavers" to be the best of the four segments, finding both "The Missing Ingredient" and "The Wrong Man" to be the worst.^[4] James Berardinelli of ReelViews described the film as "one of 1995's major disappointments".^[5] Hal Hinson of the Washington Post described the experience as "a goof so laboriously and aggressively that you almost feel pinned back in your seat".^[6] Most reviews agree with Ebert in finding "The Misbehavers" the best of the bunch. The film fared better with audiences with its 67% 'fresh' rating from Rotten Tomatoes users and a solid 'B-' rating from Box Office Mojo and a 'B' rating from Yahoo!, the film has turned into somewhat of a favorite from fans of Tarantino and Rodriguez alike.

Madonna won the 1995 Razzie award for Worst Supporting Actress for her part in "The Missing Ingredient".^[7]

The film grossed $4,257,354 in only 319 theaters.^[8]

References

External links

• Four Rooms at the Internet Movie Database
• Four Rooms at Allmovie