The Room

There are a number of "so bad it's hilarious" movies out there but almost all of them are in the sci-fi and horror genres. "The Room" is exceptional in that it's intended as an edgy independent psychological drama. To see a "Plan 9 From Outer Space"-style version of that genre is even funnier! This film is absolutely bizarre. The dialogue is at once very childlike and yet it tries to tackle "heavy" themes like adultery, terminal illness, drug abuse and the like. As a result, it feels like it was written by an alien from outer space. And when you see The Room's protagonist, who is also the director, writer and producer, you'll see that he very likely IS an alien from outer space! It's absolutely unbelievably, jaw-droppingly awful... And highly recommended!

Okay - quality of the movie [0/10] Enjoyability of the movie [10/10]

Total paradox, right?

This is the absolute pinnacle of bad story, bad dialogue, bad editing, bad plot.. I mean, I'm saying 'bad' like there actually is any of these elements within the film. The editing makes no sense, it seems randomly cut with continuity errors, there are lines like 'What's going on with the candles and the music' when there ARE NO candles or music.. The entire thing is absurd. But what makes it truly unique is that it was done entirely seriously, this is not a tongue in cheek production like low budget bad movies that know they are catering to an audience who expect to laugh at the poor effects and story.. No, this man, Tommy Wuseau, honestly, genuinely thought he was crafting his magnum opus, masterpiece of cinema.

Is it good? Absolutely, definitely not.

However - as a movie EXPERIENCE. I watched this with some of my family, warning them it was terrible, but we had one of the funniest, most incredible bonding experiences in cinematic history - As we collectively picked apart every camera angle, wobbly set, insane use of props, costume, music that skips, repeats, continuity, edits, plot and dialogue. There is not one redeeming moment in the entire movie. Even if there is a single well crafted line (there isn't) it would have to be spoken by either a terrible actor or by Tommy himself, who's accent sounds like it was in a European car crash . We all laughed until it HURT, and for that.. I have to give the experience a 10/10. I've never enjoyed a movie more with friends and family more than this one.. EVER.

I head that the experience is similar in theatres that still show this film for precisely this reason. Everybody dresses up as their favourite character, recites every line and throws spoons at the screen every time one inexplicably ends up on screen (it's a lot.. is there a reason behind this 'artistic' decision. No. There is no reason for anything)

There is more and more to notice about this film every time I watch it.. Most recently, how the architecture of the building makes no sense whatsoever. They appear to be on the ground floor, but exiting from the other side causes them to end up on the roof - at night. It's things like this that could inspire a PhD in studying the intricate insanity and entirely non sequitur values of every moment in The Room.

Do I recommend it? Well.. how can I not. Everyone needs to see this movie at least once, after a couple of drinks and with friends. It's even funnier than Weekend at Bernies after taking magic mushrooms.

I almost died laughing from a hypoxic brain injury, unable to catch my breath - narrowly avoiding giggling myself into a coma.

The finest abdominal workout video ever made.

This film tells the story of a man who will be marrying his girlfriend of seven years. However, his girlfriend seems not to settle for what she has.

I would not have known about this film if not for "The Disaster Artist". Seriously, the sets are bad, the lighting is bad, the camera angles are bad, the camera is mostly static, the acting is horrible, and the story is just bad. The plot is so thin that it almost appears to be a soft core film. It is worse than a B film. It is so bad that I laughed out loud several times, such as the infamous bottle throwing scene, or when Jack throws the girlfriend on the sofa, or the fight in the party. And could they have at least filmed on a real rooftop, instead of the fake computer generated scenery? The acting is so bad, most of the characters are wooden, except the mother who has a quite a character. The film is so bad that it becomes good. I do recommend it.

Now I did not watch this when it came, I even avoided watching it until a couple of days ago. I wanted to see this before going into Disaster Artist (more on that movie on it's own page). Now before watching Disaster Artist I was thinking rating this a 1. Then I was like 1 sounds too much like so bad it's actually good, so I decided to go with a 2. And after Disaster Artist and some background on certain things, I'm willing to go for a 3.

Why you may ask? Well, if you watch this with a couple of friends or strangerrs, this can be quite the experience. It's not about quality here (certainly not acting or script, the amount of repetition is suffocating and obnoxious to say the least), but about an experience with others about a really bad movie, that was meant to be a drama. Well I guess it's still a Drama, but not in the conventionnal sense.

Tommy is really bad and it seems he has to be dubbed at times. There are quite a few "What the ..." moments. Tommys laugh is ... curious? Definitely very unique. There's no real story and there are 3 to 4 sex scenes in the first 20 minutes of the movie. But worry not (or do?), it changes pace from there. But there is nudity applenty, especially Tommys bare behind, and a strange position to have actual intercourse is being revealed too. Or at least a anatomically incorrect penetration spot if you want to call it that. Now that may sound just crazy, but some will find this very amusing.

You can obviously watch just Highlights of this, but you will never know how bad it really is, if you don't watch it fully, to get the full experience of things. The closest to that, without going through the whole thing, is the Honest Trailer from Screen Junkies ...

I've never in my life been more entertained by a film that has absolutely NO redeeming qualities. Unintentionally inept characters engage in progressively bizarre and unnatural interactions which seem to peak at erratic and unexpected intervals. The awkwardness of the actors is framed by strange pauses, jarring scripts and incredibly bizarre production techniques - there are ample 'deer in the headlights' moments, in which you can feel genuine sympathy for these people who are obviously so caught up in Tommy's strange and dominating creative control that they've failed to see any better.

Other filmmakers play with similarly surreal concepts - David Lynch for example - but this film lacks anything resembling artistic refinement, insight or self awareness placing it far from comparison. It's kind of like watching a train crash in slow motion - random, incoherent, disastrous, accidental and ultimately painful. The sense of alienation emanating from this film places the audience extremely far from being able to relate to what's happening on screen, which leaves a lot of room for uncontrollable laughter given the right circumstances.

The camera work and production techniques would not be out of place in many daytime soap operas, nor would the script and plot, but there is an undefinable quality which separates this movie from the sense mediocrity often found in such shows and instead casts it deep into the abyss of tragically bad film making where it will be forever trapped along with Wiseau's artistic integrity. This really is a new frontier.

It is truly awful, but I cannot recommend it enough.