Movie Review: The Room (2003)
I’ve always believed that “Plan 9 from Outer Space” is the worst movie ever made, and the worst that I have ever watched. But after seeing “The Room” for the first time about 14 years ago, that belief changed. I immediately bought in to the consensus that Tommy Wiseau’s god-awful cringe-fest is “the ‘Citizen Kane’ of bad movies.”
Nevertheless, about once every two years I would just watch it again to see whether I missed something commendable.
And always: 99 minutes later, I would scratch my head in despair and dismiss it again—in between hysterical laughs.
The Room: A Project Born Out of Misguided Passion
As Wiseau’s passion project, “The Room” is a romantic movie that he produced, wrote, and starred in. And that fervor carried over to his concerted efforts for the film to be considered for that year’s awards season.
But does it even qualify for the most fundamental element—as a film? Bad as “The Room” is, it sadly does.
Wiseau stars in the film as the quintessential American man named Johnny. An amiable banker having blessed with all things good in life, Johnny can’t seem to strike gold with his relationships. His fiancée Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is cheating on him with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). A young college student whom he supports financially and emotionally runs into trouble with an armed drug dealer. Lisa’s mother had breast cancer—or so she thinks. Lisa’s tearing Johnny apart—oh. I’m rambling on too much now.
Basically, “The Room” is Wiseau’s attempt to make an American drama film with all the sensibilities involved therein. Think of random scenes such as men in tuxedos playing catch with a football. Or a character showing his clean-shaven face while the camera zooms in with a dramatic score playing in the background.
It might have something to do with his obsession, but Wiseau’s attempt is just laughably terrible.
Passion Without Vision (and Skill) is a Disaster in the Making
Sure, the passion was there, but so were the glaring ineptitudes. “The Room” is rife with wooden dialogue, hammy acting, numerous unresolved subplots, cheesy and protracted sex scenes, and unconvincing green screens. Seriously, who uses green screens to substitute for rooftop views when all they have to do is find a house with…a rooftop view?
Even WatchMojo did a top 10 of the worst scenes in the movie—this film has ‘WTF’ written all over it from start to finish.
“The Room” should serve as a precautionary tale in filmmaking. Personally, I highly recommend this movie to lovers of cinema to see what filmmaking should NOT be like. This is what happens when an artist’s passion for his craft becomes terribly misguided: Instead of creating a work of art, the result is an unintentional disaster-piece.
[A Filmmaker’s] Ignorance is Bliss [for Us Moviegoers]
This brings me back to why I keep on watching this film from time to time, apart from needing a good laugh-cringe moment. Ultimately, I want to see if it has redeeming values on any filmmaking aspect. Or, you know, maybe it’s just too damn funny.
But here’s the thing: Although I appreciate Wiseau’s enthusiasm for this film, ‘appreciation’ will never be synonymous with ‘acclaim’. It takes a special kind of ‘bad’ to gain a cult following, let alone a film that tries a little too hard. And for all its intents and purposes, “The Room” is that movie—a film that’s so bad…that it’s so good.
At the end of the day, I don’t know. Maybe somewhere deeply buried under this pile of rubbish lies the art (or at least the heart) that Wiseau has created in making the movie.
But then again, after years of multiple viewings (either for analysis or for sheer guilty pleasure), I still can’t find it.
