She may be a little gullible, but one has to feel for the protagonist Laurie Valentine. After a bum marriage to a man who was a super control freak, Laurie is now in the process of breaking up with another man, Mark, a philanderer/defense attorney, who is attempt to win her back. But she is also attracted to a big hulk named Alan Cypher, who is a tenant in her sister's attic. It is Alan who will be the roommate out of hell.
Miss Valentine is looking after her niece Fredericka (Ricki), and both of the women are quite taken with Alan. At one point, Miss Valentine confides in her best friend Janice that Alan seems too good to be true. Of course, that adage means exactly what it implies. Alan is actually a murdering a con artist named Kurt Krueger, and he is working in cahoots with Mark as a decoy to break Miss Valentine's heart, so that Mark may come to the rescue.
The pacing of the film proceeds at a good clip with Miss Valentine taking a teaching job and juggling her dicey relationships. One of her colleagues is Floyd Mesner, who appears on the surface to be a pervert. But he actually has Miss Valentine's best interests at stake. Floyd is struck by an automobile and nearly killed after he gets too nosy in the background of Alan.
In the end, it is the women who band together to do battle with the evil machinations of Alan Cypher. Ricki, Janice, and the savvy detective Valdez join forces with Miss Valentine to close the book on the nasty schemes of a charlatan and a psychopath. Miss Valentine may now return to teaching Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" and Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" with one less roommate to have to worry about.
Miss Valentine is looking after her niece Fredericka (Ricki), and both of the women are quite taken with Alan. At one point, Miss Valentine confides in her best friend Janice that Alan seems too good to be true. Of course, that adage means exactly what it implies. Alan is actually a murdering a con artist named Kurt Krueger, and he is working in cahoots with Mark as a decoy to break Miss Valentine's heart, so that Mark may come to the rescue.
The pacing of the film proceeds at a good clip with Miss Valentine taking a teaching job and juggling her dicey relationships. One of her colleagues is Floyd Mesner, who appears on the surface to be a pervert. But he actually has Miss Valentine's best interests at stake. Floyd is struck by an automobile and nearly killed after he gets too nosy in the background of Alan.
In the end, it is the women who band together to do battle with the evil machinations of Alan Cypher. Ricki, Janice, and the savvy detective Valdez join forces with Miss Valentine to close the book on the nasty schemes of a charlatan and a psychopath. Miss Valentine may now return to teaching Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" and Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" with one less roommate to have to worry about.