THE ROOM…So Bad, It’s Good (Kind Of)

On Saturday I had one of the funniest nights of my entire life. I went to see a film called The Room at The Prince Charles Cinema in London’s West End. The Prince Charles will always be a special place for me and thousands of people in and around London. It happens to be one of the few remaining indie cinemas in the world and a damn great place to watch films. Any cinema that can name Quentin Tarantino as a fan must be doing something right.

Anyway back to this wonderful film that I went to see. I have always loved to watch films that fall in the category

…So bad it’s good…

I am a huge fan of the cult American television show Mystery Science Theatre 3000, which is about a scientist that runs experiments on a human by subjecting him to really awful movies. The show revolves around the human and his two robot pals as they literally rip the living piss out of the films they are watching. It’s an insane show and it always makes me laugh.

I’m also a huge fan of Ed Wood and his films. Yes, I am a serious film lover but making fun of bad films is incredibly entertaining!

The Room is beyond any doubt the best worst movie ever made. It’s awful! I have seen tons of bad films but I have never witnessed such terrible acting in my life before. It’s hilarious! The film has 5 sex scenes in it and all 5 of them are scored with terrible pop ballads and are completely pointless! There are so many sex scenes that the film resorts to re-using shots from the previous ones. The director of photography on the film must have been blind because the camera drifts in and out of focus at times and there is more stock footage of San Francisco then there is actual plot.
Oh yes… the supposed plot isn’t really a plot as such. More of a series of dumb events involving a love triangle or something like that.

Let me try and explain…

Johnny is in love with Lisa and they have sex. Johnny and Lisa are engaged and will be married soon. Lisa is also having sex with Johnny’s best friend Mark. Johnny is a nice guy who has sort of adopted a troubled kid called Denny. Denny seems to enjoy watching Johnny and Lisa have sex and he pops up throughout the film to talk shit. A random couple pops into the house to have sex on the couch. Lisa tells her mother that she doesn’t love Johnny anymore. Her mother tells her that she shouldn’t leave Johnny because she is her security and she mentions that she also has breast cancer which she never brings up ever again throughout the film. Lots more sex and footage of San Francisco and then… well I don’t want to spoil the end.

Yep, that’s the film and let me tell you it is an awesome sight to behold. Especially if you happen to be in a packed cinema with everybody yelling abuse at the screen. Where The Room succeeds is that it has built up a huge cult following and screenings throughout the world have developed into a huge event. The audiences have started heckling the film and making fun of the actors. It has massive audience participation that involves throwing footballs around the cinema and throwing plastic cutlery at the screen.

As I said before the worst part of the whole thing is the acting. The Room was written and directed by a guy called Tommy Wiseau who also plays the lead role. This guy delivers all of his lines like a drunken robot. It’s amazing; there is no other way of describing his performance. He looks like a cross between meat loaf a gothic vampire. The situation is even funnier when you think that he actually sat down and wrote the whole film himself but the funniest aspect of the whole thing is that every member of the cast took it completely seriously. They actually thought what they were filming was good. No doubt they thought that this movie was going to be their big break.

I’m sure Scorsese is knocking on their door as we speak, probably armed with an axe!
You really can’t comprehend how funny it actually is to be part of the crowd when watching The Room. I can’t even begin to explain to you the euphoria and electricity that is created when the film begins and the credits roll.

Tommy Wiseau is nothing short of a hero when it comes to making people laugh accidentally. The Prince Charles cinema is scheduled to show The Room again and if you get the chance I urge you to go and check it out. It’s so funny and make sure you bring some plastic cutlery and heckle as loud as you can!

Rating:  

By the way if you are interested in the world of films that are so bad they are good you should also check out…

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)
Plan 9 is Ed Woods’s disasterpiece. Famous the world over for it’s shoddy acting, bad sets and probably the worst continuity in the history of film.

Manos: The Hands Of Fate (1966)
This film became very famous after appearing on the TV show Mystery Science Theatre. It was made by a manure salesman from Texas. It’s a special kind of awful and so inept there is even a point where you can see the clapperboard. The film was shot with no sound and 3 people in post production dubbed all the voices.

Space Mutiny (1988)
This is a personal fave of mine. A crappy space saga that uses recycled footage from Battlestar Galactica and is set in a spaceship that has windows with daylight shining through. This is essential viewing if you want to laugh!

Tags: review, The Room, Tommy Wiseau