Review of The Room (2003) by Joe W — 07 Jun 2014

The Room is a cult film, directed by Tommy Wiseau, which redefined the "so bad it's good" genre for many people. Tommy Wiseau also stars in the film as Johnny, in a performance that transcends terrible acting to occasional, unintentional hilarity. The thing I can say about Wiseau's scenes is that, although not all of them are laugh inducing, they will keep you entertained. It's his scenes that save the movie from being a total catastrophe, but not enough to elevate it anywhere near the "good" category.

Johnny is a generally good-hearted fellow who seems to have a promising life: a good job with an imminent promotion, a beautiful fiance, and a group of friends whom he cares for. There is even a boy named Denny who he treats like a son. However, most of this is just an illusion and begins to fall apart. Johnny's fiance, Lisa, proves really quickly to be a manipulative whore (for lack of a better word) who cares for no one but herself. Johnny's best friend, Mark, shows that he has no concern for rules of friendship by sleeping with Lisa on multiple occasions. Johnny also fails to get the promotion he was expecting. Much detail is not given as to why, but we are assured that it didn't happen.

Like I said above, Wiseau's terrible acting saves this film, because any scene without him in it (save the rooftop scene where Lisa and her mother are yelling at a crying Denny) is just absolutely unbearable. Twenty minutes in we've gotten three sex scenes that all feel like watching a low-quality soft-core porno. The dialogue is atrociously awful, the other performances don't come near crossing that line to go from bad to so bad it's good, and nothing feels sincere. Lisa comes up with a story that Johnny hit her, yet she remarks it almost offhandedly, has no bruises, and has no conviction in her voice. Even when she does say it, no one seems to care!

There are also several plot points opened up that seemingly disappear. The main one is when Lisa's mom states that she has breast cancer. Lisa nonchalantly remarks that "She will be fine" and the subject is never brought up again! What was the point? Another is where Denny is being held at gunpoint on the rooftop. We get a hilarious scene of yelling after Johnny and Mark take the shooter away, but other than the fact that we know that it had something to do with drugs, we learn of the subject no more.

In the end, we have a few funny scenes overshadowed by the rest of the movie. I've heard of people giving this high marks such as 8/10 or even a 10/10. Knowing that, I was expecting straight unintentional hilarity all the way through. Sadly, this was not the case and was left wondering whether to kill myself or not most of the way through. I've been told that seeing this with a crowd makes all the difference. I might try that sometime, but not for a while at least. I need time to recover.