7 Things About THE ROOM

I barely remember the first time I saw The Room, that quirky film from 2003 that people love-to-hate-to-love. According to my DVD Netflix history, I received it in September of 2015, and I gave it only one star. When I watched The Room last weekend, I hardly remembered it. It’s possible that the first time around, I packed it up and sent it back without watching the whole thing. I only remember being irritated, thinking, who does this guy think he is? I didn’t know that the star, Tommy Wiseau, was also the writer, producer, director, promoter, and more.

After reading The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero, who writes about his experience with the film and Wiseau, and seeing the film adaptation of his book, I added The Room to my queue again. When I received it, I also watched the special features, which included behind-the-scenes footage, some deleted scenes, and an interview with Tommy Wiseau. Here are seven things I observed the second time around.

1. If you only watch the first 20 minutes of The Room, you might think it’s a soft-porn flick. The action starts out hot and heavy with these scenes accompanied by dubbed moans and “that-kind-of” music. Watch further, and you’ll find more story.

2. In his book, Greg Sestero spends a good amount of time criticizing Tommy Wiseau’s sex scenes, but I don’t remember him mentioning his own, which run on par with Tommy’s. That goes for his acting, too.

3. When it comes to acting, none of it is very convincing, with the exception of the actor who plays young Denny, Philip Haldiman. He’s pretty good.

4. In the special-features interview, Wiseau says he used two cameras because he was confused between the two technologies, so he decided to try both. He thought he might write a book about the comparison. He doesn’t say which he liked better and which was used for the theaters.

5. Wiseau recommends seeing the movie twice. “You might not like it, but you will learn something.”

6. Many fans see the movie over and over again, says Wiseau. “You can laugh and cry but don’t hurt each other.” Apparently, showings of The Room can get as raucous as a Rocky Horror screening.

7. Tommy Wiseau says his biggest accomplishment is that he finished the film. I guess that’s something to be proud of, but perhaps he was stretched a bit too thin. Writing the screenplay, producing the film, directing the film, acting in the film, and promoting the film is a lot to handle.

It’s impressive that Tommy Wiseau has been able to take so much criticism over the years and keep his cool, especially from people he thought were his friends. I’m surprised he talks to Greg Sestero at all, who in his book, presents himself as a talented-actor foil to Tommy’s bumbling-hack. See numbers two and three above.

I tend to root for the underdog, and that’s how I see Tommy Wiseau. He had a dream to make a movie, and he wasn’t a professional movie maker, but he was able to bypass the marginalization he received from show-biz folks. It’s well-known that he spent a fortune making the film with very poor initial box-office results. A certain cult-following has grown for The Room, so I’m pretty sure he’s broken even by now.

Here’s my recent review of Wiseau and Sestero’s latest project, Best F(r)iends: http://annsilverthorn.com/index.php/5155/best-friends-funny-or-not/

Ann Silverthorn is a freelancer and blogger who writes in a wide variety of genres. She especially loves movies and sharing her thoughts about them. Follow her blog at www.AnnSilverthorn.com and find her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Disclaimer: I am a DVD Nation director, and I earn rewards from DVD.Netflix.com, which has thousands of movies to choose from, many that you won’t find on streaming services. #DVDNation #ad