Film review - The Room (2003)


Where to start with 'The Room' is tough, and that's putting it politely. Tommy Wiseau - the lead actor/writer/director/producer - appears to channel his inner Ed Wood Jr by attempting to be a Jack of all trades putting the film together, yet resulting in an output riddled with extreme confusion.

A lovestruck bank worker, Johnny (Wiseau), seems happy enough living with his fiancee Lisa.  With their wedding on the horizon, life seems blissful if odd, as demonstrated by the appearance of their neighbour Denny, who acts as their creepy surrogate son.  Not everything is all sunshine and roses (literally) as Lisa turns out to be cheating on Johnny with him his best friend Mark.

What follows can only be described as the journey of plot points between A, B and C, up until the inevitable discovery of Lisa's treachery.  A level of depth is observed on Lisa's interactions with Johnny, her mum, Mark, her best friend Michelle but is inconsistent at best in terms of emotions being displayed.

Johnny proves to be the glue that holds the characters and plot together - an ironic point given he's played by Wiseau, who by all accounts struggled to keep production together behind the scenes.  The dialogue throughout makes little sense and the acting across the cast makes for cringeworthy viewing.  Only the character named Peter is remotely relatable or realistic - and even then, the poor actor portraying him has to spout drivel of his own.

Even the budget of this D-pic is questionable: if every penny is on display, how much finance actually went in to it?  The backgrounds across each scene appear to be made up of no more than five different sets - primarily in the titular living room of Johnny and Lisa's apartment - whereas the soundtrack resembles an instrumental compilation from Poundland.

Despite it's apparent attempt to become the worst film ever made, it has gone on to achieve cult status through its unintentional humour, questionable direction and stories from off-camera.  One positive that arises is to never take for granted a "good" picture again when compared to the litany of gaffes on display here.

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