In my country "The Room" is inside you.
For the last three nights I have had difficulty getting to sleep. This isn't because of bad dreams, or the temperature, or even my horrible, ghetto neighbors. No it's because of a simple film called The Room . For those of you who don't know The Room is an independent movie written, produced, and directed by one brilliant auteur by the name of Tommy Wiseau. And when I say "brilliant" I mean...well I'm not really sure what I mean because Mr. Wiseau is as much of an enigma as the film. Refusing to name his country of origin, declaring he is only American, Wiseau speaks with an accent reminiscent of Latka from Taxi and one of the Wild and Crazy Guys from Saturday Night Live. In The Room, Tommy portrays Johnny, a loving boyfriend to Lisa, his fian...finan....feans...future wife. Unfortunately Lisa does not reciprocate Johnny's feelings, choosing rather to start a torrid affair with Johnny's best friend Mark. And when I say "torrid" I mean elbowy and almost motionless. That's the set-up which sounds like pretty standard fair, especially if you watch Neighbors or As the World Turns. What makes The Room so brilliant is that it is the only movie I have ever seen which effectively fails at everything it tries. The iconic best worst movie is considered Troll 2, going so far as to have a documentary made about it entitled Best Worst Movie. However, I must contest this title as Troll 2 at least hits the points that it is supposed to for the type of movie it is. There are scenes within the early 80s horror film which would have scared me as a kid and the scenes that are intended to be funny occasionally succeed. There is not one scene within The Room which would have affected me the way in which it was intended no matter what age I was or emotional state I was in. The love scenes are laughable, the dramatic moments are hilarious, and the intended humor is just sad. Additionally the character motivation in Troll 2 makes sense even if it's not entirely linear. Whereas the characters in The Room are all over the map, obviously a product of trying to interpret the script written in Mr. Wiseau's Eastern European idiosyncrasies. Not to mention the fact that there are approximately 2 - 3 lines in Troll 2 which are memorable and quotable whereas nearly every single line of The Room is not only memorable but late-night giggle inducting. From the constant greetings of every character whenever the enter a scene (save one whose name we never learn but is apparently in their close-knit group and worries that it will be destroyed) to the random announcement of breast cancer, to the best chicken impersonation I've ever heard this movie will leave you satisfied yet thoroughly confused.
Which brings me to my point. As I stated earlier I have had difficulty getting to sleep and that is because I have watched The Room three times in as many days and each time I have exposed a new person to it with me. Never has any movie provided such opportunity for pure MST3K-isms from start to finish. And this is the reason that sleep as alluded me. After about an hour of trying to put the movie out of my head last night and failing while in bed with my boyfriend I finally clicked on the recorder on my iPhone and captured about a minute of our exchange. Please listen and see the pure joy and coughy hilarity that you are missing if you have yet to see The Room.
Download | Duration: 00:01:05
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