The plot had all the elements to be a suspenseful, unthinkable tale of what happens when a young woman is kidnapped, raped, and held captive in a garden shed for seven years, along with her young child who was conceived and born in the ROOM. Had this story been told in flashbacks, with the focus more on how the woman and her now five year old son coped with freedom and the family dynamics after their escape, there could have been enlightening character development and psychological insight. Instead, the movie was linear with more than the first half of it filmed in the stifling ROOM.
Brie Larson as Joy Newsome “Ma” the kidnapped young woman, Jacob Tremblay as her five year old son Jack, Joan Allen as Joy’s mother, Sean Bridgers as the mother’s new boyfriend, and William H. Macy as Joy’s father, were absolutely terrific in their respective roles … however, even their great acting did not save the script, written by Emma Donoghue based on her novel, directed by Lenny Abrahamson.