Review of Chatroom (2010) by Doctor S — 03 Jun 2012

Utter waste of time. The construct of acting out interactions in an online chatroom as a real environment would be a clever idea in 1992 when the internet was new and unfamiliar territory but just looks silly today because we know it doesn't work this way. Matthew Beard plays a total douche for no apparent reason who gets his kicks by manipulating "friends" he makes in a chatroom called 'Chelsea Teens!' and the last half-hour is tediously spent trying to get one of them to commit suicide while the others try and stop him.

If she can get some meaty roles, Imogen Poots will be a star: you heard it here first! She caught my attention as a peppy boarding schoolgirl in Cracks and is very good as a reforming rich bitch here, but as part of an ensemble she can't rescue this by herself since the rest of the cast range from unconvincing (Beard fails at charisma and Hannah Murray is waaay too bubbly) to barely adequate. One star obviously signifies a very bad movie and Chatroom isn't outright awful like most one-star movies, but it simply doesn't contain anything beyond Poots worth recommending.