The Room
Director: Tommy Wiseau
Writer: Tommy Wiseau
Cast: Tommy Wiseau, Juliette Danielle, Greg Sestero, Philip Haldiman, Carolyn Minnott, Robyn Paris, Mike Holmes
Seen on: 26.1.2018
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Plot:
Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) is successful, rich and has a beautiful fiancée, Lida (Juliette Danielle). With his tight circle of friends – tightest of all being Mark (Greg Sestero) – he has a happy and pretty much carefree life. His wedding is fast approaching, but something is happening with Lisa: she seems to take a sudden interest in Mark. And Mark can’t withstand her manipulations.

The Room is famous for being one of the worst movies ever. It’s so bad that it has garnered a cult following. You’ve got to see it to believe it – and I have to say that seeing it is an absolute experience, especially when you’re watching it with a crowd.

I’ve known scenes from the film for many years, but I never had the chance to watch it in its entirety. But now that I have seen it, I am very glad that I never watched it at home or with only a couple of friends, because seeing it in a full cinema with an entire crowd, at least some of whom know the audience participation stuff that has been developed for the film, that’s the perfect way to watch it. I literally laughed until I cried.

If the film wasn’t as badly made as it is, it would have been utterly horrible. The script is atrocious. The acting is wooden at best, but entirely incompetent most of the time. The technical stuff (camera, sound, light) is definitely below average. If any of those parts had been better than they were, the entire thing would have fallen apart into a misogynistic mess. But given that everything is terrible, the movie transcends the terrible and ascends into the terrific.

It’s not only funny as fuck with its non-sequiturs, hammily delivered lines, inexplicable circumstances and random characters, it’s also a masterclass in what you shouldn’t do when you’re making a film.

Put all of this together, The Room is not so much a movie as it is an experience -. an experience enriched by watching The Disaster Artist before and by watching it in a great big group. If they ever show it in the cinema here again, I’ll make sure I get the chance to be there.

Summarizing: very special in its badness.