Imagine for a moment, a film made by some of the worst writers, directors and actors in Hollywood. A Michael Bay film with Adam Sandler and Melissa McCarthy in the lead if you will. You can imagine it being pretty bad right? But would it come close to The Room level of bad? Not a chance. The Room is one of those rare cult films that's so painfully bad in all imaginable ways that it's actually extremely enjoyable, it's a film that people watch to laugh at its unintentional hilarity and sheer awfulness, a film that has reached a whole new level of bad that it makes Transformers look like Star Wars. But what is The Room?
For the unlucky few of you who are unaware of this film, The Room is a 2003 romantic drama film that follows the deterioration of a mans life when his fiance begins having an affair with his best friend. Not so bad right? Wrong. The film was written, directed and produced by a certain Tommy Wiseau who also takes on the lead role of Johnny despite his horrible acting. This man is the Orson Welles of bad and The Room is his Citizen Kane. Through his awful performance, terrible dialogue and every bizarre inconsistency in this film, Tommy Wiseau managed to present the world with the worst film of all time, but also the most beloved worst film of all time. The Room has since become a cult sensation and has found a huge fanbase all over the world, people quote it, people get it on t-shirts and people worship the mythical figure that is Tommy Wiseau. Nowadays watching The Room makes you part of a large community of fans who admire it for all of its many many flaws.
I myself am a huge fan, I remember watching it in full for the first time and being completely overwhelmed by how terrible it was but also by the fact that I was enjoying how terrible it was. Never have I laughed so much at a film before, not even at Airplane! This is mainly down to it's laughable dialogue that's so unnatural that you can't help but remember all of those quotes. One of my personal favourites is in a scene where Mark (Greg Sestero) Johnny's best friend argues with Johnny before yelling at him 'keep your stupid comments in your pocket!' That's the kind of stuff we're dealing with here, Sestero himself has since admitted that he had a hard time bringing himself to say that line due to how horribly unnatural it is. One of the films most iconic pieces of dialogue however, comes when Johnny expresses his emotions to his fiance Lisa (Juliette Danielle), channeling his inner James Dean by screaming 'you're tearing me apart Lisa!' On paper it's nothing but it's the delivery that makes that moment so golden. Such horrible dialogue can't help but etch itself into your brain which is one of the reasons why this film is so iconic, it's got so many memorable (albeit terrible) quotes courtesy of writer/director/producer/actor, Tommy Wiseau.
The mastermind behind The Room, Mr. Wiseau is quite the character, the strange accent, the long, dyed black hair, he is something of an enigma. Never revealing his true age or the source of his vast fortune used to fund the film, Tommy Wiseau is shrouded in mystery and has become something of a cinematic icon (for all the wrong reasons) thanks to his work on The Room. Onscreen he is a pleasure to watch, his terrible acting and the way he delivers his lines is almost otherworldly, every time he appears onscreen we wait in the hope that he will open his mouth, delivering another memorable quote. In doing this he never fails. But if you think Tommy Wiseau is bad onscreen, his offscreen antics are even more outlandish. Insisting to shoot in both HD and 35mm, annoying actors so much that they were forced to quit, annoying crew members so much that 3 different crews were used, these are just a few examples of what Wiseau got up to behind the scenes. It is believed that he annoyed the actor who originally was set to play Mark intentionally so that he would quit and be replaced by his friend Greg Sestero. His worst victim however, was Juliette Danielle who plays his love interest Lisa as she was forced to film a very long sex scene with him, so long that footage from it was reused to make another one. One can only imagine how excruciatingly painful it was for her to film these scenes. To top this all off, Wiseau supposedly insisted on having his ass onscreen 'or else this film wouldn't sell'. And all that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Aside from the dialogue and Tommy Wiseau's mere existence, another reason why this film is so memorable is that it's one of those films where you notice something new each time. The first time around is all about the real memorable stuff, the infamous roof scene for example where Johnny screams about how he did not hit Lisa or Lisa's dismissal of her mothers breast cancer. The second time is when you notice more smaller details, why are the men throwing a football around in tuxedos? Why are there framed pictures of spoons everywhere? The more times you watch it, the more narrative flaws and sheer oddities you discover. I've watched it many times at this stage and I still spot some new inconsistency every time without failure. Last time I watched it I only realised that Johnny's psychologist friend Peter (Kyle Vogt) disappears for no reason and later on there is a new, unnamed character that seems to fill his role. Apparently Kyle Vogt had to leave the production for personal reasons and instead of rewriting the script or giving his lines to another existing character, Wiseau invented a new character to fill in for Peter in one scene. I'm sure I'll notice something else next time I watch it and I look forward to doing so. There are just so many strange qualities about this film that I cannot even begin to list them all, it really is something that you have to see to believe.
Multiple plot holes, cringe worthy acting and dialogue, and the close up of Tommy Wiseau's buttocks, The Room is a film that is full to the brim with flaws. However it is these very flaws that have made it such a cult film, all over the world people attend screenings of The Room where they shout quotes in unison and throw spoons at the screen. It has become a communal experience of sorts. While a lot of bad films are that way because they try too hard, Michael Bay's explosions, Kevin Hart's 'comedy', The Room is the opposite, it is effortlessly bad. Being bad just comes so naturally to this highly unnatural film and I think there are very few films that have managed to reach this caliber of bad. Of course not everyone will enjoy The Room, many people will just see it as bad and will find no entertainment from its many many flaws. But there is a huge community of fans, including myself, who cannot help but be mesmerised by this trainwreck of a film. This is the type of film that will live on for generations, 100 years from now I like to think that people will still say 'oh hi Doggy' in their best Tommy Wiseau accent whenever they pass a dog in the streets. I encourage you all to watch this film and if you like it then I suggest reading The Disaster Artist also, a book written by Greg Sestero about his experience with Wiseau and with The Room. You will not be disappointed.
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