Pascal got it wrong

Rating: 6/10 (24 September 2007)

Blaise Pascal said all human misery was ultimately due to man's inability to stay in his room by himself. After watching "1408", I guess he wouldn't be so sure. The basic plot idea closely resembles Star Trek TNG episode "Remember Me": People start disappearing from the Enterprise until Doctor Crusher is all by herself. Finally, the universe shrinks to nothing but the size of the ship. In "1408", once mystery hack Mike Enslin checks into the Dolphin Hotel, the room becomes his world, and soon the world is nothing but his room. The story isn't any more original than Mike Enslin's very own trashy paperbacks, but Mikael Håfström has three things going for his movie. One, it may be a one-man show, but that's alright when that one man is John Cusack. Two, some images stick with you for days, such as Enslin's mirror image in a room across the street or the limitless expanse of the hotel's exterior brick wall. Three, who would want to miss the guest appearance by Samuel L. Jackson as the hotel's glib, yet obliging general manager?