Speaker: A gloriously bad film
36 Responses
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I loved how the front door on the first floor was also on the second floor. Kicks Inception's arse for dream-like brain architecture, I reckon.
On a more serious note (warning: party pooper alert), I'm a little uncomfortable about the film and it's cult status. Wiseau is a bit of a dodgy character, the film is clearly misogynist (it seems to be made by someone who has a twelve year old's understanding of male and female relationships) and I'm weirded out by the claim that the actor who played Lisa was "straight off the bus" and those bizarre sex scenes. Hint of exploitation?
I'm just wondering if it's healthy to prop up Wiseau by giving The Room a longer life than it would have. Perhaps it should have been left in the bargain bin?
But, y'know, I watched it like everyone else and had a great time. I'm just, as I said, left a bit uncomfortable.
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I haven't seen The Room but I enjoyed your take on it. I once met a young woman who was doing a thesis on spectatorship. This would have been right down her alley.
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Robyn Gallagher blogs beautifully at robyngallagher.com
That she does. Lovely review.
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This would have been right down her alley.
As long as she was tossing a football around with her friends while they were all wearing tuxedos.
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Oh, and Tommy Wiseau gives tips on shooting a 'sex tape'.
The sex scenes mostly consist of Wiseau's muscular, pitted ass filling the screen as he thrusts up and down in slow-motion to awful R & B music while grunting like a dying ox, with his pelvis positioned somewhere above his co-performer's transverse colon.
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That is an accurate description, yes. As long as you add the red roses to the whole thing. Which is what complicates Jose's observation, for me. Is it really possible for something to be simply misogynistic when the auteur is so unconsciously self-absorbed that the sex scenes consist almost entirely of his own naked arse?
Incidentally, the wonderful Prince Charles Cinema in London shows The Room on the last Friday of every month. But you have to buy tickets at least two weeks in advance, because it's just that popular.
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Generally when people say something is so bad it's good they're less than half right. I'll watch Best Worst Movie, but I won't watch Troll 2.
"But it's so bad you'll laugh and laugh! And oh did I mention the spoons?!" Doesn't do it for me.
The sex scenes mostly consist of Wiseau's muscular, pitted ass filling the screen as he thrusts up and down in slow-motion to awful R & B music while grunting like a dying ox, with his pelvis positioned somewhere above his co-performer's transverse colon.
Yet more good reasons I'm glad I skipped it.
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Yet more good reasons I'm glad I skipped it.
Yeah, I don't think you'd find much to enjoy in The Room. Though there was a strange scene where I was reminded of that film you made where you projected Two Girls, One Cup on your naked belly.
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3410,
Burn!
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It was my naked back, if it'd been my belly it'd also have been projected on my cock and balls. I think I should revisit that short, there's a lot of potential for hilarity there.
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Generally when people say something is so bad it's good they're less than half right. I'll watch Best Worst Movie, but I won't watch Troll 2.
I see what you're saying - the 'so bad it's good' routine is mostly just a stupid hipster affectation. But The Room is different. It's a genuine phenomenon and if you miss it you're depriving yourself of a really enjoyable experience.
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I said this at the time; I stand by it.
(Summary for the link-averse: it turns out I'm a massive snob when it comes to bad movies, and have no time for this sort of cinematic slumming. There is, quite likely, something horribly wrong with me.)
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Jose I love your insight but it appears wildly divergent from the reality of the alien that is Tommy Wiseau. I think what you read as misogynistic is just a woefully inadequate attempt at dramatic human interaction.
If anything he's an overblown romantic with all the finesse of a histrionic steroided gnome. If this is the path you're going down then you should be concerned about all soap operas which is pretty much what THE ROOM actually is.
If a description of another actor being "straight off the bus" gets you concerned, I would say you should stop watching all mainstream cinema from Hollywood, where the casting couch is alive and well.
Tommy's bizarre innocence can be called many things, but labeling the guy a scheming pornographer in disguise is really stretching.
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Hi Ant, lovely to hear from you. I'm sorry I missed Enter The Void, it sounded amazing.
I think what you're saying is that I should stop being so naive about the casting couch. Fair point, but if you're trying to tell me Wiseau isn't a misogynist and instead some sort of misunderstood "romantic" I'd have to disagree. He's been quoted in the AV Club saying that the trouble with women is that they're manipulative beings. I'm also going from an interview with the dude who played Steven (who the hell are you?) basically saying Wiseau jumped the actress.
He's crazy, and has illusions of grandeur, but an innocent? I'm not convinced.
But, hey, I still watched the thing, like the other hipsters and I'm not trying to bum anyone out. Maybe I'm simply projecting the deep and genuine horror I felt on seeing the Wiseau's thrusting bum in action. Oh jeez ...
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turns out I'm a massive snob when it comes to bad movies, and have no time for this sort of cinematic slumming
Here's a story just for you Aging Gen-Xer Doesn't Find Bad Movies Funny Anymore
Well, it describes me pretty well anyway.
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Jose nice to be here! to tell you the truth I think reality may lie in between. The guy is a collossal narcissist but also affects childlike behavioural touches. Imagine a toddlers perspective about women in general !
I think if lisa was exploited then she certainly came off better than many who arrive off the bus from bumfuck Idaho and end up doing max hardcore features. It doesn't make it right but being adored by thousands around the world in a film everyone loves it's not that bad an outcome for a naive girl. Let's be real here. She agreed to the nude scenes after meeting Tommy. Say no more.
The comments from people about bad movies are simplistic. It's all very dependent on the film and the individual. Im not a fan of forced cult hipsterism at all
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Here's a story just for you Aging Gen-Xer Doesn't Find Bad Movies Funny Anymore
I'll be quiet now. *spends three hours staring into mirror*
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Martin. I'll read it when Im off my phone. My world may shatter!
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Here's a story just for you Aging Gen-Xer Doesn't Find Bad Movies Funny Anymore
Nah - I still find bad films plenty funny. I've just seen so many (so, so many) that I have, I'm a little surprised to find, turned into a bit of a wanker about them. The attention the The Room gets just rubs me the wrong way (especially since it's barely bad -- I'd just call it plain old incompetent).
If anything, I figure it should be celebrated -- that a man with no discernable talent as a writer, director or actor should be able to write, direct and act in film if he wants to is truly a marvel of modern society.
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He's been quoted in the AV Club saying that the trouble with women is that they're manipulative beings.
Do you think he's oppressing women? Or are people - both women and men - laughing at his dorky perspective on relationships? I reckon he's been dicked over several times and it's left a lasting mark on him that he's working out through his art.
One of The Room lines is to add "...because you're a woman!" to the end of various lines, especially the one where Lisa's mom tells her she can't have the fancy things in her life without Johnny. At the Wellington screening, I heard several women yell out that line.
Man, Tommy's a dick.
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Just a quick two cents:
Last month I spent an afternon with Wiseau questioning him about the film and getting a feeling for the man. I also spent a good few minutes helping him find his car in the car park, which he'd lost. It took Greg Sestero and I at least 10 minutes to find the car. Eventually we did. I returned the next day to a screening where he met the fans, and spent about 15 minutes signing stuff.
My verdict? He's just an extrememy odd, naive guy. Not a dodgy bone in his body. This is reflected in the film he made... it's just an insane kid making a movie.
David.
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Blimmin' hell. I can't believe I've started a discussion about gender politics in The Room of all things.
But ...
Ant: I don't think the actress playing Lisa is adored by thousands. I think she's being laughed at by thousands.
Robyn: just because women were shouting out and recognising the sexist bits doesn't make the film any less misogynistic.
But ...
I'm not arguing that the film is dangerous and should be outlawed and that my fellow liberals should drive Wiseau into the hinterland to be beaten senseless with a hardback copy of the Female Eunuch.
I'm interested in my own response to the film, enjoying its rubbishness but also aware I'd dismiss a lot of films with similar depictions of women (most Hollywood films as Ant pointed out).
Although as Martin pointed out with that link to The Onion, perhaps I should stop over thinking what is after all a very, very silly film and just enjoy it.
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Awesome. The guy with the Jake Heke line was me. I'm glad you liked it - I don't remember the line getting a particularly big laugh on the night. I think my friends and I might have started another Room meme as well: we started saying "Om nom nom" whenever there was kissing and the whole theatre picked it up.
I had severe doubts about going to the Room screening: I'd kind of thought it would be a crowd of filthy hipsters being... filthy hipsters. But it turned out to be a wonderful, if truly strange, experience. There was a lot of joy there. And I'd dare even the most jaded bad-movie-avoider out there not to laugh every time the spoons appeared, a shout of "SPOONS!" went up, and cutlery flew everywhere.
Oddly, not everyone seemed to be in the mood for participating; there was a girl and her friend directly in front of us who, pretty early on, turned around and hissed at us to STFU. I only feel a little bit bad about spending the rest of the movie coming up with as many calls as possible to wind her up. -
@Jake - I saw the Room at the Prince of Wales a few months back. It was pretty hectic in there, but good fun all the same. The amount of people that dress up is quite amazing
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Jose. I think you're Dead wrong. The fans are laughing at her acting/ character & not the real person. Just go see the show with Any Of the cast and crew present and then tell me the fans are being cruel.
THE RAPE OF LISA sounds like some new andrea dworkin text but let's take a breather here. This is all supposition from your liberal base where every woman in film is exploited. ; )
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