The Room

Starring: Tommy Wiseau, Juliette Danielle, Greg Sestero, Philip Haldiman, Carolyn Minnott, Robyn Paris
Directed by: Tommy Wiseau
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2003

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) is looking forward to marrying Lisa (Juliette Danielle), who has fallen in love with his best friend, Mark (Greg Sestero).

Review:

Tim: I'm kind of wearily writing about The Room. I'd never had much of a desire to see the film, but after watching The Disaster Artist, I knew I had to sit down and subject myself to this. A lot has been said about this godawful movie. I'm actually not much of a fan of those midnight showings or how this has become a cult classic. There's this sense of "it's so bad, it's good!" when that's not the case. This is an irredeemable mess of a film that resulted in a total waste of my life watching it. It's funny to see the twist of trying to make this seem like it was intended to be this bad when it obviously wasn't. This is simply a terrible movie.

It's hard to separate what I learned about this movie from The Disaster Artist with the movie itself. Watching that movie, I'm fascinated by Tommy Wiseau. What an inexplicably odd guy. And yet, watching his movie- in which he's the star, the writer, and the director, I shouldn't have anything but rage towards him. Making movies is difficult, and he went into this full of false bravado. He's the triple threat here- but his acting is among the worst of all time (not hyperbole). His script is utter garbage and reveals a serious lack of intelligence and creativity. And his directing is moronic and juvenile. If he didn't have others getting him through it, the movie would never have been made (and the world would be better for it). Wiseau is a no talent bum who somehow financed his own film, watched his masterpiece mocked (rightfully) and yet has achieved undeserved notoriety. I don't hate Wiseau at all, but the dude quite simply sucks.

It's hard to evaluate any aspect of this movie because Wiseau was at the helm and had no idea what he was doing. For example, Greg Sestero has certainly benefited from this experience, coauthoring a book about his experiences. But, it's not like Sestero is blameless. His performance here is pitiful. He's awful in this movie. Are we supposed to be believe this is purely because of Wiseau? I mean, certainly his dog crap script and dialogue didn't help. And yet, Sestero isn't exactly a talented actor. I have to believe some of the blame for his bad performance rests with him. Juliette Danielle might have been okay, but she has to utter some of the most inane dialogue I've ever heard, as she tries to bring to life a character who makes no earthly sense. In some ways, I was impressed with her, even though she just looks awful acting in this film. The rest of the cast is the same- the whole cast is so bad here, their careers should have ended. Wiseau needs to take most of the blame, but they aren't innocent, either.

The story isn't even worth mentioning. It's drivel. You could take the most idiotic person you run into on any day of your life, give them a typewriter, and they could come up with a more engaging, logical story than this one. It's about the worst story I have ever heard.

I could go on, but I have no desire to. Is The Room one of the worst movies ever made? Absolutely. But, it was made by a bunch of morons with no talent. Besides Wiseau for the arrogance of thinking he could pull this off, I don't have a lot of anger at the cast or crew. I don't even feel hatred towards this movie. I feel ambivalence. I would rail much harder against some of the crap that Hollywood produces every year with production crews that have a million times the talent, intelligence, and experience of this one. Those are the real travesties each and every year. The Room is terrible, but it feels unfair. The film never had a chance. I gave it the lowest rating possible, simply because it's not even worth being called a movie. I sincerely wish this movie would fade into oblivion.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 1



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Disaster Artist