‘Roommates’ Review: Besties Turn Testy in an Uneven College Comedy With Two Terrific Leads

Home Film Reviews Apr 17, 2026 7:44am PT ‘Roommates’ Review: Besties Turn Testy in an Uneven College Comedy With Two Terrific Leads As initially inseparable roomies undone by envy and exploitation, Sadie Sandler and Chloe East give Chandler Levack's Netflix film a ring of emotional truth even when it spirals into silliness. By Guy Lodge Plus Icon Guy Lodge Film Critic @guylodge Latest ‘Wasteman’ Review: David Jonsson and Tom Blyth Add Character to a Brawny but Familiar Prison Drama 11 hours ago ‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ Review: Long, Lavishly Gory Horror Ride Is Loud Enough to Wake the Undead 1 day ago ‘Balls Up’ Review: Ugly Americans Face the Wrath of Brazil in a Disposable Comic Jaunt for Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser 2 days ago See All ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection There’s a complicated, bittersweet study of female friendship fighting to free itself from the glib, shiny, “Saturday Night Live”-adjacent comic veneer of “Roommates,” and when it shows through, in enticing fits and starts, it even approaches wisdom. Elsewhere, however, this Netflix original from up-and-coming Canadian filmmaker Chandler Levack disappointingly flattens the moral and emotional zigzags of an increasingly toxic college roommate situation, losing nuance as it seeks to appoint one of its leads a heroine and the other a villain. Both, happily, are played far more interestingly — by Sadie Sandler and Chloe East — than this binary might suggest, and the film that “Roommates” might have been mostly lives in their nervy, careering performances. Related Stories 'Will Trent' Bosses on That Shocking Death: 'It's Such a Reset for Our Characters'