Tommy Wiseau, the pinacle of modern day cinema, while he’s been mostly absent for the last years, his cult-classic is undebateably one of the most influential and iconic movies in recent memory.
While many trash it for it’s lack of plot, good acting, pacing, good dialogue or anything that makes a movie actually good, The Room doesn’t need any of the traditional elements a normal film would.
PRODUCTION:
The Room was the cinematic debut of writer/ actor/ director/ producer Tommy Wiseau. It was released in 2003 and had a budget of ca. $6.000.000, a small budget, though mind you Blair Witch project was made for less than $30.000. Wiseau, knowing how incredible his story was, and unwilling to compromise anything, even changed the cast and crew several times, to get the perfect result ( which admittadly does explain where a lot of the budget went ).
Ultimatly, having no idea how film distribution works, Wiseau’s “The Room” made less than 2k. Years later, thousands of people around the world realized the beauty of the room and cinemas across the country, which has lead to a new box office of nearly $5 million. While still not much, it is noteworthy that much of The Room’s sucess has lied in DVD sales and rental. I read in an interview that Wiseau said the film was “profitable” albeit it took a few years for it to be so. It’s also noteworthy that Wiseau won’t allow The Room to appear on any streaming services, which could be a contributing factor to lower profit margins.
PLOT:
Johnny ( Tommy Wiseau ) has a good life, he’s engaged to his stallion young wife, Lisa ( Juliette Danielle ) and has a good friend named Mark ( Greg Sestero, his best friend in real life ). He also has this son-like figure, Denny ( Philip Haldiman ), but he doesn’t show up very often. In one of his few appearences though, he’s caught on a rooftop by a drugdealer named Chris-R threatens him for money, and gets a gun to his head, but not before Tommy, Lisa and Mark can heroically stop him like a Shakespeare play!
The main dilemma in the story is that his wife if cheating on him with Mark, despite the fact that they have 0 chemistry, still a better love story than Twilight.
The story goes on and admittadly not much happens in the third act, the only true weakness of this otherwise otherworldy film! Though it does explore Johnny’s friendship with Mark. For example, Mark is a fan of mint-tea, while Johnny prefers hot chocolate. Showing that while they both like simular things, in this case hot drinks, they still differ from one another.
Ultimately, Johnny finds out about Mark and Lisa’s affair, it becomes to much for him. He goes on a rampage breaking furniture and inamimate objects like Michael Douglas in Falling Down. In a momemt of beautiful tragedy, he puts a gun in his mouth and shoots himself, leaving his loved ones broken. The End
Common Themes:
Football – There are multiple scenes throughout the Room of Johnny playing football. It displays Johnny’s keen sense of community, and his love to his friends. Football n The Room is a symbol reflecting the force. It’ everywhere, it binds The Room’s universe around them. Without it, our heroes and villains wouldn’t even exist!
Repetitiveness – Throughout the film there are probably around a dozen scenes of Lisa complaining she’s not in love with Johnny anymore. This implies a huge deeper meaning to the story. None of it was real, Johnny’s actually in a coma, caused by a football accident, the people around him are exagerated versions of themselves, and the whole thing is a big nightmare!
It’s noteable that Lisa is much younger than Johnny. That’s because Johnny has been having the longest dream of his or anyone’s life. Lisa was his high-school crush, Mark was his best friend, Greg Sestero’s portrayal was what he thought he’d look like. Denny was Johnny’s younger friend in high-school, whom he protected from bullies. The real tragedy, for those with the intellect to see it, is that Johnny has been in this dream state for so long, that decades of his life have withered away, which he’ll never get back. A dream that ended after commiting suicide, after ending his dream.
That’s what makes The Room so tragic.
CONCLUSSION:
The main reason the film worked, despite it’s low budget and inexperienced cast, was the story and natural talent of Wiseau. He has surpassed his idol James Dean in every way possible. Why don’t you hear more from TW? It’s because he knows that he’s already achieved what modt actors couldn’t achieve in their lifetime, he made a film as influential, as iconic as some of the biggest, mega-budget blockbusters of all time! And he was snubbed by the Oscars! For they could not fathom the undeniable talent attached to this film. A modern day Citizen Kane, The Godfather or whatever piece of cinema you hold holy.
He now only makes films out of boredum and fun. He gave us a gift, a film that cures discease, a film that lifts depression, a film that feeds the starving! The Room is a gift sent from the heavens and is to go down in history for milennia. I say we start a religion based on the film we’ll call ‘Roomism’, join me, and together we can defeat Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Scientology and all other religions! Join me in my prayers to the Lord and Savior Tommy Wiseau!
The Disaster Artist:
It’s also worth mentioning that actor James Franco, out of pure respect to Wiseau, directed and starred in a film adaptation to the makings of the Room. It also features his brother Dave, playing Greg Sestero, along with Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk and many, many more celebrities paying tribute to Tommy Wiseau.
The film is titled ‘The Disaster Artist’ and was released in 2017 to generally positive reviews, especially for James Franco’s performance.
Happy April Fool’s!
-The Screenwriter