{2jtab: Movie Review}
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(4 stars - cult film standards) This movie – no, this phenomenon – will change your life. Permanently.
Tommy Wiseau’s The Room, having already earned freakish line-quoting followers in Los Angeles and New York through its communal (and sold out) midnight showings, is now High Definition cinematic ineptitude at its finest. If you’re anything like me and live for the next great disasterpiece, may you never leave Wiseau’s The Room. This film, while certainly unwatchable under normal situations is a cheering blast due to the amount of gut-busting laughter its bad acting, bad direction, and bad dialogue provides. Ripe for Mystery Science Theater 3000 material, The Room is an unintentional riot that thrives on its amateurish inaccuracies and a personal vision of life that is as warped and twisted as its fans.
Written, directed, and produced by Wiseau (also the film’s main protagonist), The Room is about an affair that undoes one relationship, derails another friendship, and ends with the suicide of its leading man. Its one-dimensional cast – featuring stellar performances from Greg Sestero, Juliette Danielle, and Philip Haldiman as the mentally retarded neighbor - are all no names in the acting field (and continue to remain so). Along with Wiseau, the cast is so inexperienced when it comes to speaking a writer’s lines that you can’t help but wonder if they are all Wiseau’s best friends. Sadly, they are not.
All the subplots – and there are many – go unresolved and unexplained and – you know what? – no one cares. We’re too busy laughing. This is a film whose flaws should be celebrated as it’s the only way to make it comprehensible. The film is a like a goofy acid trip of dismissed plotlines and a bizarre disavowing of accepted social norms. Oh, you have breast cancer? That’s nice. Let’s plan a party! I’m paraphrasing but it’s moments like that one that makes The Room a hysterical romp from one bedroom to another.
For a long time the film was Los Angeles’ best kept secret and most of its scenes were filmed in the City of Angels. Interiors only, of course, because Wiseau wants you to believe in the power of San Francisco…or at least the Golden Gate Bridge. Almost every exterior B-roll shot features an incomplete pan of the bridge in all its … muted glory. Repeatedly. He even throws Alcatraz into the mix for some sort of archetypal symbol that goes undeveloped in the proceedings. His inexperience as a director and a producer make these moments the misappropriated stuff of legendary bad decisions.
If it wasn’t for the unintended comedy of it all, The Room – complete with its soft porn rose petals - would be more of a prison. Its frenzied cult following has already inspired a video game, book, and traveling stage show based off of inconsistencies, narrative flaws, and bad acting. There aren’t many bad films that can do this. The Room is the cream of the crop of really, really awful filmmaking.
As far as cult films go, The Room is a solid 4 star affair. We might even have the heir to the midnight matinee Rocky Horror Picture Show throne. Unless you hate having loads of fun, you seriously need to rent/steal/buy and, finally, see The Room. Bring a friend or two and lock them in it with you.
{2jtab: Film Details}
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality, language and brief violence.
Runtime: 99 mins.
Director: Tommy Wiseau
Writer: Tommy Wiseau
Cast: Tommy Wiseau; Juliette Danielle; Greg Sestero; Robyn Paris; Greg Ellery
Genre: Drama
Tagline: A film with the passion of Tennessee Williams.
Memorable Movie Quote: "All men are assholes. Men and women use and abuse each other all the time; there's nothing wrong with it. Marriage has nothing to do with love."
Distributor: Wiseau-Films
Official Site: www.theroommovie.com
Release Date: No wide theatrical release
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: December 28, 2013
Synopsis: A happy-go-lucky banker sees his world fall apart when his friends begin to betray him one-by-one.
{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}
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Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - December 28, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: TBA
Audio: TBA
Discs: TBA
Region Encoding: TBA
This 1080p transfer, in spite of the quality of the film, looks rather good in high definition. Barring a few scenes of soft lines and iffy black levels, the rest of the movie has great detail and life to it. Close-ups offer as much facial and textual details as one could hope for. The vibrant colors really pop. Reds are strong, followed closely by the earthy tones of the interiors the characters find themselves in. Contrast is dead on. Even when the brightness of the B-roll exteriors burn through everything, it doesn't end up washing out detail. The movie may be terrible (in a non-cult manner of speaking), but it certainly looks good. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix isn't quite as impressive as the video presentation. Its solid in its own right, there just isn't anything that will specifically attract your attention.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- None.
Special Features:
This is a bit of a letdown. You get a few youtube-quality behind the scenes bits, an interview with Tommy Wiseau, and some deleted scenes that aren’t nearly as funny as you want them to be and a nice photo gallery. Yawn. Where’s the meat? Where’s the stuff that will really tear us apart, Lisa? Where’s the 3D version of the film? It’s coming, I promise.
- Behind the Scenes (5 min)
- Interview with Tommy Wiseau (7 min)
- Deleted Scenes (7 min)
- Photo Gallery
{2jtab: Trailer}
{/2jtabs}
The Room (2003)
1 Reel/4 Reels (Cult Film Standards)
Blu-ray Specifications:
Commentary:
None.
Special Features:
