To overcome the high cost of living in New York, three very different women, albeit well-adjusted in their distinct careers, decide to move in together. Billie (Samantha Fox, in one of the best performances of her career) is a rising advertising executive with a past in high-class prostitution, the consequences of which continue to cross her path. Actress Joan (an exquisite Veronica Hart) struggles to make it on Broadway, but maintains a relationship with a married man who will never leave his wife. Model Sherry (a sensational Kelly Nichols) has a drug problem that keeps getting her into trouble, including several instances of abuse by a psychopath (a huge and disturbing Jamie Gillis). Of the three, Joan is the most romantic and sensitive, and ends up turning her romantic attention to a gay co-star. Because Billie is coerced by her former pimp to return to her old job, she ends up running into her own boyfriend at a bachelor party, which adds insult to injury, as she had no idea he was engaged.
Chuck Vincent's latest hit swept the AFAA (Adult Film Association of America) awards the year it was released, while planting the seeds for what would later become organizations like XRCO (X-Rated Film Critics Organization) and FOXE (Fans of X-Rated Entertainment). While "Roommates" more than fulfills, in every aspect, the paradigm of good filmmaking (script, acting, production values, etc.), it practically overlooks the one aspect that separates adult films from mainstream ones. Sure, there's a lot of sex involved, but very little of it is actually erotic. It was even labeled almost as misogynistic, as its three female leads went through a rough patch only to prove how strong and brave they were. As a curiosity, Veronica Hart publicly stated that her sex scene with Jerry Butler was the only time in her career that she felt she was really making love.