It's hard to explain a movie like Tommy Wiseau's "The Room." Hailed as one of the worst movies ever made, and as the "Citizen Kane" of bad movies, it's hard to see why it's so popular. However, everyone I've ever shown it too has absolutely loved it. This movie is so beloved in fact that James Franco and Seth Rogen made a movie about it, "The Disaster Artist." So what makes this movie so bad it's good?
The Plot.
To say this movie has a plot would be generous. Story lines are dropped as quickly as they're picked up, scenes seldom have a point, and this plot has about as many holes as a sponge. But, more or less the plot revolves around Johnny, who is basically human perfection.
Every character seems to think so at least, as it's almost all they talk about. Johnny is your typical American hero with a eastern European accent and weird fashion sense, but his "future wife" Lisa is cheating on him with his best friend Mark.
Other than that the story involves random drug deals and breast cancer diagnoses that are never revisited, so clearly it's very well thought out. The nonsensical plot just stands to make the movie that much funnier though since you never know what to expect next.
The Characters.
So you have Johnny who laughs at really inappropriate times and can barely articulate what he's saying. You have Lisa who's life purpose seems to be being the absolute worst. Mark who always forgets somehow that he and Lisa are having an affair. Denny who is just a creep, and also does drugs, I think (??). Claudette who's dying of breast cancer but is actually pretty blasé about the whole thing. You get the idea.
The Acting.
This gif should really say it all. If it doesn't, then know that the best actor in the whole movie had never acted before in his life and was just a cast member's roommate. Yeah.
Basically, "The Room" is a recipe for disaster. And that's what it is-- a complete and utter disaster of a film. But this is the kind of disaster that's so magnificently terrible, so unbelievably bad that it somehow became good. I have never laughed harder at a movie than "The Room." Although never intended to be a comedy, it doesn't get much funnier than this movie. So, before you see "The Disaster Artist," I highly recommend you see the movie that started it all.
