If you recall, my last movie experience was a little disappointing. I saw a movie that I think is genuinely awesome, and got a little peeved at the overreacting and self conscious crowd. Just one week later I went back to the same theater, but this time I was looking forward to a ruckus crowd. If you haven't heard of The Room, it's one of those 'so bad it's good' films that most people end up loving. It also happens to be the successor (at least for now) to Rocky Horror for midnight showings and crowd interaction. You yell things at the screen, throw spoons and footballs around the theater, and some people even dress up and act out the scenes at the front of the theater. If you like laugh out loud bad movies, or an interactive movie experience, this is the film for you.
The origins of the film and it's cult following were pretty well documented in an Entertainment Weekly piece, but I will give a short summary here. It was released back in 2003 in L.A. and pretty quickly flopped. Tommy Wiseau (the writer, director, and lead actor) raised the six million dollars to make the movie by himself (or by some other unknown source). Although the movie was obviously terrible, some people in L.A. took a shine to it and started a monthly midnight showing. Wiseau usually attends these and talks to the audience before and after the film. From there it gained a large cult following and over time has spread to other cities. It's not that widespread yet, and if you don't live in a huge city you likely won't be able to see it in the theaters. This is a shame because I can't imagine viewing this movie in any way besides in a group of enthusiastic The Room supporters.
But what kind of movie is this? From the poster above it's almost impossible to figure out. At first I figured it was some kind of horror or supernatural movie that had cheesy effects and ridiculous sets. Boy was I wrong. The movie is pretty much a straight up soap opera, with terrible dialog, bad acting, ridiculous non sequiturs, and pretty much everything you don't want in a movie. I imagine an instructor could use this movie for weeks in a film class explaining 'see this? This is exactly what you don't want to do!' The unintentional comedy scale is off the charts for this movie and Wiseau now claims that this was intentional, but it's pretty clear after viewing the movie that he was very earnest in making it.
The plot is pretty simple. Actually it's overly simple seeing that the characters seem to have the same conversations over and over. Wiseau plays a nice guy, in fact he has no bad bone in his body and is the most caring guy in the world. He even pays the rent and college tuition for a boy named Denny (who may or may not be retarded) who lives in his apartment complex just because the boy doesn't have any parents. However, his fiance Lisa not only finds him boring, but despicable! She plots to hook up with his best friend (who we are reminded is his best friend approximately 100 times) behind Wiseau's back. More characters flow in and out of the movie (some without any introduction at all) but most of the scenes involve these three. Wiseau's character eventually finds out and is obviously devastated by Lisa's treachery.
But really, the plot is not what is interesting here (if you can call it that). There are so many bad lines that I won't even bother to list them here. Plot points are brought up and then never discussed again. Lisa's mom offhandedly mentions she has cancer but is much more worried about her brother trying to get money from her. Lisa claims she is pregnant towards the end of the movie 'just to make things interesting' even though it's a complete fabrication and no one really bothers to ask about it. Denny gets involved in a drug deal gone bad but we never figure out what was going on. A character has to be carried off screen after falling down while tossing a football and the next time we see him he is fine. These are just a few of the ridiculous scenes that make no sense whatsoever when taken into the context of the rest of the movie. And I haven't even mentioned the 4 minute long sex scenes (where footage is repeated!) or Lisa's pulsating neck that looks like an Alien might burst out of it at any moment.
Part of what makes this movie funny is Wiseau himself. He obviously had his his heart broken in real life, and this movie was his way of dealing with it. He takes his role really seriously, but it's hard for the audience to do the same because of his mysterious eastern European accent, his long gross black hair, and the ridiculous lines. He's obviously a crazy guy, as seen in his lengthy but rare interview with the AV Club. The above interview was initially done via email, so as to not misquote Wiseau. It was continued on the phone, but the audio clips were obviously posted via his request to again assure that he wasn't misquoted. Most of his responses don't make any sense, and towards the end he goes off the rails against women and their powers of manipulation. I highly recommend reading it if you have the time.
I'm not sure if this movie will have staying power in the mind of popular culture or not. Because of the internet and our short attention spans, things come in and out of favor quite quickly. Furthermore, DVDs, Netflix, and home theaters make going to the movies a rare occasion, and it isn't as much of an event as it used to be. It might be fun to initially watch this movie at home with some friends, but the only way it will stay in the collective conscious is if people continue to attend late night screenings at obscure or independent movie theaters.
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