I apologize, dear readers, for this post being a week later then I promised. I could give some legitimate reasons about how busy this past week has been for me, but I that would be a misleading as to the real reason of why it's late. The true reason is a fact that has made me question my faith in myself.
This movie was just that bad.
Watching The Room, written, directed, and starring Tommy Wiseau, is like watching a movie made by aliens who are able to adopt a humanoid physical form and who base their impressions of humans of shitty soap operas. It's actually shocking that enough people working in the film industry were desperate enough to attach themselves to this project. Wiseau, claims that the film was intended as "a black comedy"; a claim that is universally seen as a way to justify why audiences laughed through initial screenings. Certain cast members and crew members have publicly confirmed this suspicion.
This film is a hot mess. It has more scattered plot lines than Wiseau has luscious locks on his head. In the first half hour alone there are three lengthy and very very awkward sex scenes all set to horrific 80's music. Scenes with dialogue seem as though they are taken from multiple conversations and were then spliced together with complete disregard for any coherency. An outlandish percentage of lines were dubbed over and sounded like they were added in by a seventh grader working on a video project for class.
There are many scenes that seem to have no reason to be included. Why do we need to watch Wiseau's character Johnny buy flowers and make brief inane small talk with the florist for his adulterous fiance Lisa? What does it contribute to include Lisa ordering pizza?
These anomalies are not limited to banal moments either. Scenes of heavy emotional weight are featured and then never mentioned again. For example, early in the movie Lisa's mother, Claudette, tells her daughter she has breast cancer, which she inexplicably brushes off with indifference. This is never again mentioned.
The question you may be asking is why this film, released in 2003, has not completely disappeared? Why do people watch it?
It's because this is not just that this movie is bad, it's that it is soooooooo bad that it's terribleness has given it a staying power it would not have achieved if it was just another mediocre, or perhaps even thoughtful, drama. Nearly two decades later, viewers continue to marvel that a movie this bad could actually be made.
The film has attracted a cult fan-base both in the United States and internationally. It is still screened in certain theaters in the US, the UK, Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. A la Rocky Horror Picture Show, fans dress up as characters, and yell out certain prime lines. It has gained the respect of certain celebrities who publicly and privately endorse it, including David Cross, Will Arnett, and Paul Rudd. Wiseau, far from feeling ashamed, relishes any popularity the film achieved and encourages his cult of fans by setting up screenings himself.
I think that there is an important lesson here about embracing unintended responses to our creative work. Perhaps Wiseau is more wise then he is a good filmmaker, and recognizes that had this film been any better, it would not have the same hold on audiences! So the moral of this movie is clear even if everything else about it is indecipherable. If you're going to do something poorly, do it soooo exaggeratedly poorly that it is so awful as to be awesome.
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