Original Release Date: June 27, 2003
Written and Directed by Tommy Wiseau
Cast: Tommy Wiseau, Greg Sestero, Juliette Danielle, Philip Haldiman, Carolyn Minnott, Robyn Paris, Mike Holmes, Dan Janjigian, Kyle Vogt, Greg Ellery
Soundtrack: Mladen Milicevic
Believe it or not, I can actually vividly remember the first time I ever heard about Tommy Wiseau’s magnum opus.
It was April 1, 2009, and Adult Swim, as part of its yearly April Fools’ shenanigans, decided to air the television debut of The Room (and did so the next year, and the next, before using it as a fake-out in 2012).
I think I gave the movie about five minutes before deciding to head back to my own room and maybe do some classwork (or probably anything but that because procrastination is awesome).
Little did I know, however, that The Room was not only already a cult classic, but had already made an impact on other things I had seen (namely the nonsensical chicken impressions in Arrested Development).
And so I left it, until earlier this year I saw the trailer for The Disaster Artist, and decided that maybe I should finally get around to seeing the film that inspired it, if for no other reason than pure research (getting to see it on the big screen thanks to Alamo Drafthouse was an unplanned…bonus?).
So, what’s all the hubbub about?
Well, after seeing it from start to finish, I finally understand why so many folks in the L.A. comedy scene were so hip to The Room when it first came out, because no one could ever intentionally create something so unintentionally funny.
The phrase “so-bad-it’s-good” gets thrown around a lot, but The Room truly earns the title, because it fails so hard at what it’s trying to be (presumably some sort of 21st century Tennessee Williams-esque melodrama), but the nature of the failure evolves your viewing experience into something arguably more compelling than if the movie had succeeded at its actual intentions.
What’s more, despite often feeling like it was perhaps made by aliens, the movie is not incompetent in every regard. If The Room had been some shot-on-video and/or student film garbage, I don’t think anyone would have given it the time of day, but it was shot (at least partially) on 35mm, sets were built, and it even had a second unit go to San Francisco to get location footage. Sure, the “green-screen rooftop” is infamous, but, honestly, whoever lit that thing deserves an award, because they were able to at least match the lighting of the background.
Now, fair waning, I don’t think anyone should ever watch The Room alone (at least not the first time you see it), because you’re going to need at least one other person to react and process with (and, also, there are no less than five awkward love scenes in a film that doesn’t crack 100 minutes), but there are so many wonderfully baffling moments that I promise you won’t regret it.
Really though, I’m skirting around the one person who makes this movie so unique: the man himself, Tommy Wiseau.
I don’t know much about him, and I don’t really know what to make of him, but without his passion, this film would have never been made. Whether he’s a genius or a fool doesn’t even matter at this point. All that matters now is that he somehow caught this lightning in a bottle for the world to enjoy.
Maybe we’re all just jerks for laughing, but there’s no denying that The Room is something special, to the point that it pretty much defies rating.
Rating: ?????