Saturday night, Novemeber 20th saw winter’s latest assut against the twin cities, unleashing slow motion sleet and coating the roads in ice. While all wise boys and girls were tucked safe into bed I was at a midnight showing of The Room, a fast growing cult phenomena. Driving to the Uptown Theater there were points when slidding through stop lights on Lake Street I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. Both my movie companions fell down; amazingly I didn’t considering my typical complete lack of cordination. Crossing kitty-corner at Hennepin and Lagoon watching girls in spiked heels and skimpy club clothes make their way over the ice was funnier than most things on TV in a tragic way. I know I shouldn’t be laughing at their misery, but I couldn’t stop smiling. It was a feeling that would pop up again later in the evening.
Upon it’s release in 2003 The Room was an abject failure. It still is, but now it’s one people pay to see. My ticket to the Room was the best sixteen dollars I spent all year, which is saying something, considering that sixteen dollars is just more than the net cost of the last five issue of Batman and Robin, which were phenomal in both plot and visuals. The Room is not phenomanal in any of those ways. It is a phenomanon, something inexplicible in it’s mere existance.
Entertainment Weekly and the AVclub both have more in depth analysis of the film and it’s history, but the short story is that a man named Tommy Wiseu made a terrible movie, that he thought was really great. After it flopped Wiseu continued to show it with monthy midnight showings in Los Angelos, advertising this with a billboard featuring a really creepy picture of Wiseu, who also stared in The Room. A cult audience was there from the beginning. Gaining speed these showings were attended by some hip Hollywood types like Paul Rudd, David Cross, and Kristen Bell, who spread the word. Time passes, and a new cult classic was born.
The Room is a ridiculous movie. Pointing out The Room’s flaw’s is effortless. It’s easy to see the plot holes, the inconsistantcies in production (one character is replaced with another actor halfway through with out any explaination), the fact that the camera is not always in focus, the pointless lurking metaphors, and the rampant mysogony. Despite all this it’s strangely compelling. It’s absurd that I’m talking about a dud movie seven years after it came out, but The Room deserves your attention. It has a spark of inarticuable intensity and fun.
It is a horribly bad movie. The worst movie you’ve ever seen and still enjoyed.
It is a horribly bad movie. The worst movie you’ve ever seen and still enjoyed.
The screening I attended was extra special in that Tommy Wiseu and costar Greg Sestero were live in person, answering questions, taking pictures, and generally seeming like ok dudes.
Wiseu in person is quite a trip. He is as much a grotesque as it appears on screen or in promotional material. He’s simply strange looking, the kind of man your eyes would linger on if saw in a crowd, or passed in the street. His dark hair and pale skin make him look goth with out really trying. The added sunglasses make the overall effect akin to late era Michael Jackson. An ap comparision woud be between Wiseu and Ed Wood, both auteurs, with personal visions, intense drive, and no real tallent. Wiseu wrote, directed, produced and stared in the room. It was a labor of love, or intense, insane passion. In recent interviews Wiesu has acted like he was in on the joke, that every flaw was intentional, but I don’t really buy it.
The making of the Room cost six million dollars. For perspective, that could get you aproxamately 1.7 million comic books, or about 103 years tution and expensses at Harvard. Considering that Inception cost $160 million, The Room’s budget doesn’t seem so extravagant. But where did all the money go? It looks like a bare bones amatur hack job. Mumblecore flics like Mutal Appreciation and Quiet City were made for close to no money, but they look better.
Wiseu doesn’t talk about money with the press, but it is believed that the Room has yet to turn a profit. And who cares? I was entertained, and he isn’t complaining, so does sucess really matter? It’s interesting to consider that failing commercialy is a requirement to become a cult film, gaining an underground status that lingers long after many block busters have been forgotten.
While The Room may not have made Wiseu any money, it gave him something arguably far more valuable: celebrity. When he came into the theater people went absolutely crazy. Shouting for him, clapping “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.” Here he is the star he wants to be. The night is all about him. A member of the audience was dressed up like the distinctive looking director. Through all the excitement there’s a hint of meaness burried deep. We are all here to laugh at his master piece, which wasn’t intended to be a comedy.
The Q & A was intersting. None of the questions were really serious or sincere. Some were digging for information, about his accent (indefinately Eastern European, fading in and out through the film) which was cooly rebuffed, or on upcomming projects. Others were softballs, asking him what he thinks of Minneapolis (it’s great), or getting him to hug co-star Sestero, which admitadly was pretty cool.
The Q & A was intersting. None of the questions were really serious or sincere. Some were digging for information, about his accent (indefinately Eastern European, fading in and out through the film) which was cooly rebuffed, or on upcomming projects. Others were softballs, asking him what he thinks of Minneapolis (it’s great), or getting him to hug co-star Sestero, which admitadly was pretty cool.
After the Q&A it was time for the main attraction. Watching the movie is a group activity. I loved it as a communual act, but I can’t immagine ever sitting down to watch The Room on my own. Can’t hear everything over the crowds, but it doesn’t matter. Audience participation is a key to enjoyment. You shout “Hi!” to Denny, the eighteen year old orphan. Fraiming shot of the Golden Gate Bridge, or any of the abundant familiar scene setting cuts leads to mocking pronouncements of, “Meanwhile, in San Fransisco.” Whenever there’s a picture of a spoon on screen, which is surprisingly often said cutlery is thown at the screen.
The joy of The Room is that it is a shared occasion. Most movies are spent silently in dark auditoriums, with The Room the spectacle overflows the screen into the crowd. If this sounds like the type of thing you’d be into, theUptown Theater is showing The Room again on December 18, and January 22, albeit without any visiting stars. I highly encorge you to check it out.
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