Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Room (2003)

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Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 01-11-2018, 08:24 PM:

Saw this at UA Denver Pavilions Stadium 15. After the Disaster Artist, this is likely to become (if it hasn't already) another cult film similar to those by Ed Wood. The audience filled about half the auditorium. They were really into it. In several scenes, there's a photo of a spoon. The back row yells "spoons" and hundreds of plastic spoons rain down on the rest of us. There are a lot of shots of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate that just seem to be there to fill time (or perhaps indicate the passage of time). Since there are so many of these, the audience yells "water" each time it one appears. When Lisa is coming on to Mark, they yell "But, he's your best friend!" That doesn't seem to stop Mark, so we're "treated" to several sex scenes, some with Lisa and Mark, some with Lisa and Johnny. Lisa's mother is interesting. As long as Johnny is supporting Lisa, she should stick with him. It's all about the money.

Tommy Wiseau and the rest of the actors have gone on to be in or produce other movies. Everyone's first movie is probably not the greatest. Apparently he self-financed this for $6 million. http://ew.com/article/2008/12/12/crazy-cult-room/ says the box office was $1.9k in its initial 2 week run. It's now doing a bunch of theatrical showings and is available on DVD. The ew article, above, said his 2004 documentary "Homeless in America" was "loose but rather moving," though IMDB only gave it a score of 3.6/10.

Next, we'll see the Disaster Artist.

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 01-12-2018, 08:07 AM:

I remember seeing The Room many years ago at the Sunset Five in WeHo, just as the whole cult thing was starting to happen. I laughed and rolled my eyes along with everyone else, but as I left I thought that as bad as the picture was the guy had some props coming to him, at the very least he turned in a technically competent movie that no matter how bizarre had a modicum of sincerity to it.

By contrast, compare Wiseau and The Room to anything by Neil Breen, who casts himself in Messianic savior roles in laughable pictures. I dare you to watch the trailer for one of his epics all the way through. I'll take Wiseau over this any day.