REWATCH: The Room [2003]

As is often something of an initiation for the uninformed, we decided that it was necessary to do a rewatch of the classic The Room as we had a guest tonight. Well versed in the sci-fi channel's attempts at film making but woefully inexperienced when it comes to the paragons of the genre, Scott came to movie night with skepticism but an open mind. It did take a while to try to convince him we weren't watching a porno and even then we weren't entirely successful. Fair. 

Every time we watch this film, it seems to take even longer because of how often we have to pause it. This time it was slightly less because of diverging conversation and more because of the arrival of Adam and Sarah's daughter, Jade, who really stole the show with an intermission performance of causing herself to throw up in a desperate effort to eat more bread and then slipping on her own vomit. 

Either way, this time the sub conversation did keep coming back to the idea that a polycule really would have solved all the issues of the film. And it would still fully support what seems to be one of the attempted themes: if everyone in the world loved each other, the world would be a better place. Tommy/Johnny should probably have just taken his own advice here and gotten in on the Mark/Lisa action. Denny would probably be down too.

Also, it was apparently decided that Kay is Adam and Sarah's Denny (or like, an actually platonic Mark).

REWATCH: The Room [2003]

In honor of the nine year anniversary of Bad Movie Night, we decided to rewatch The Room for the first time in about four years. It took us about three hours to watch just because we kept pausing it to have deviating conversations or to explore the artistry. Some highlights include: stopping to tell the story about how Kay's mom called her a homewrecker when she wasn't doing anything, an in depth analysis of each character's utility to the story, Erik and Kay randomly talking about D&D, Sarah making more quesadillas, a passionate defense of Mark's cluelessness when Lisa is hitting on him since we are actually all exactly that stupid ourselves, Adam pointing out which lines specifically have become a fundamental part of his lexicon and his waxing poetic about how much he enjoys the character of Claudette, and many more.

We ended the evening by watching a serious of bad porno openers on YouTube because, honestly, they aren't too dissimilar to The Room.

Spoon Rating: 10

REWATCH: The Room [2003]

[Cross-posted on the Bad Movie Night Facebook page.]

Adam's sister Leah and future brother-in-law Matt were at Bad Movie Night and we were horrified to find that they had never seen "The Room." Obviously we had to fix this problem so we got a football and ordered a pizza that was half Canadian bacon and pineapple, half artichoke and pesto light on the cheese and gave them the best movie going experience ever. 

You can read many other "The Room" related things by clicking on the "the room" tag below this post.

I'm completed serious about the pizza:

We were a house divided on opinions. Keith and Kay both thought the artichoke and pesto side was pretty good. Adam thought it was awful but liked the bacon and pineapple. Also, they wouldn't put the pesto on for us because it would mix with the tomato sauce on the other half so we had to put it on manually. This explains why in the movie they just have a plain cheese.

There was no scotchka involved.

SPECIAL: The Disaster Artist [2017]

[Cross-posted on the Bad Movie Night Facebook page.]

Bad Movie Night went to the movies! It has been a while since we have gone to an actual theater to see a movie, but this time it wasn't a bad one. "The Disaster Artist" is a film based on the book written by Greg Sestero about the making of "The Room." I did a review of the book three years ago that you can read here. Like the book, the film was really worth your time, especially if you are a fan of "The Room."

The film centers around the friendship between two struggling actors: Greg Sestero, who is seen as young and with potential, and Tommy Wiseau, a man of indeterminate age, origin, and sanity level, and seemingly bottomless wealth. In their joint attempt at finding success in L.A., Tommy gets the idea to write, direct, and star in a film with Greg, which ends up being "The Room." The shooting of the film is fraught with issues from arguments between Tommy and the crew, to scheduling problems, to a lack of air conditioning that leads to one of the actresses passing out. All the while, Tommy and Greg's relationship is strained as Greg gets acting jobs and wants to move in with his girlfriend, which doesn't jive with the overly clingy Tommy. The film culminates in the premiere of the movie where the actors and crew are appalled to see how bad the film is. Soon shock turns to laughter which brightens the experience for everyone except Tommy, until Greg conveys to him that they really do love it, even if they don't love it in the way Tommy intended.

This film is a great example of a "good story, well told." Sometimes with films based off real events, it can be hard to tell the difference between a "good story" and a "good story, well told" and seemingly any story on "The Room" and Tommy Wiseau would be a decent watch because the real story is so compelling. What helps me to make this distinction is probably the fact that I know so much about the actual history from reading the book. Things were changed from Greg's original account, but each change was cleverly made in the name of making a more coherent film. For example, the acceptance of "The Room" as a delightful bad movie was not something that started at the premiere but something that happened gradually over time. Making this change for a visual medium creates more narrative coherency for an unfamiliar audience.

In addition to the script, the acting was startling. James Franco's Tommy impression is spot on and kind of outshines all the other amazing actors but everyone deserves props. As a special bonus at the end of the film, they showed scenes from "The Room" side by side with the actors from "The Disaster Artist" performing the same scenes and they were practically indistinguishable.

So go see it. If you are a fan of "The Room" or bad movies, it is a must. If you just like good movies, go watch it. But if you are unfamiliar with "The Room," do yourself a favor and watch the original masterpiece first.

The Room: Rifftrax [2009]

[Cross-posted on the Bad Movie Night Facebook page.]

With our semi-annual viewing of "The Room" we decided to mix it up a little bit by watching the film with a Rifftrax. While we are usually more than capable of providing our own witty commentary, we've watched "The Room" twice since we started Bad Movie Night and have heard each other's jokes before so we decided to instead hear it from the professionals. If you haven't heard of Rifftrax, I suggest you check it out. The guys from "Mystery Science Theater 3000", a show that many attribute to the rise in bad movie watching, make audio commentary tracks to be played along with movies, many of which are big-budget films that are perfect for mocking or bad movie cult classics that became popular after the end of "MST3K."

There's not much to say about this viewing since if you really want to know more about "The Room" itself, you can just go back and read the post I wrote about it the last time we watched it here, but I will say this: after watching all those episodes of "The Neighbors" the real quality of the film making of "The Room" by comparison is a startling and welcome change.

Next Monday will not be another Wiseau feature but will probably be a film featuring Robert Z'dar as he just passed away this week. We know him best from "Samurai Cop" but he has apparently starred in tons of silly cult movies so it seems fitting that we should find another one.

NEWS: "The Room Actors: Where Are They Now? A Mockumentary" Kickstarter

Robyn Paris, who played Michelle in The Room, has a Kickstarter to raise money to make a mockmentary about what happened to The Room actors after starring in the best bad movie ever. They haven't reached their initial goal yet and the more they make, the bigger the project will be so think about contributing! At least go on the Kickstarter and watch the video they put together and read the Room themed contribution categories.

See? She chocolates us.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Disaster Artist" by Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell

If you find yourself wondering why I'm doing a book review on a blog devoted to the bad movies we watch every Monday, then clearly you have yet to hear of this book (or perhaps can't figure out where you've heard of the first author before). The full title of the book is "The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made" and the author is more commonly known as "Oh, hi Mark."

The book is essentially written with two alternating timelines: one that focuses on Greg Sestero's friendship with Tommy Wiseau and the effect it had on their lives and careers, and the other that focuses specifically on the making of "The Room."

In the first timeline, Sestero recounts meeting Wiseau in a San Francisco acting class where he watches him butcher a Shakespeare sonnet before the class and then has the gall to tell the teacher that she is the one in the wrong for criticizing him. Impressed by his unfounded confidence and courage, Sestero decides that he must do a scene with him, a decision that leads to the oddest of friendships. At first Wiseau is a great friend, giving encouragement and assistance when Sestero has no one else who supports him, going on sponteneous adventures to sites significant to James Dean, one of their mutual favorite actors, and being optimistic about both Sestero's career and his own. However, as Sestero's career starts to take off and Wiseau remains stagnant, things start to become strained between them. Somehow they end up hostile roommates before Wiseau disappears for months and comes back with the idea to write his own play/screenplay to prove that he can be not only an actor but a director, producer, and writer. The book draws parallels of their relationship to the main friendships in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Sunset Boulevard, which is exactly as unnerving as it sounds.

This part of the book is mostly the story of their friendship but there are a lot of interesting things to it. Aside from just recounting how close friendships and competition can be a volatile mixture, you also get Sestero's personal story of how difficult it can be to find fame in Los Angeles and how his career is simultaneously helped and harmed by his friendship with Wiseau (along with some hilarious commentary on Wiseau from his mother). This part of the story also shows many of the quirks about Tommy Wiseau that make him such a strange person and often, explain parts of "The Room." Sestero talks about Wiseau's reluctance to reveal his age, origin, or job, and perpetually acts like he is already famous. He's endlessly paranoid about people poisoning his food and records all his phone conversations to listen to later, and is deeply ageist in spite of no one knowing what his age really is. 

In case you're wondering if the book answers any of these questions, I would say it partially does. While Sestero can't confirm Wiseau's origin or job, the books does offer plenty of hints and offers a rather detailed potential back story of which Wiseau frequently changes the details. His age is offered but the answer is still unbelievable to Sestero and to anyone else who has seen Wiseau. The only truth Wiseau seems to offer Sestero in their friendship is that he has been in two very serious car accidents which might explain something, but what?

While pieces of Wiseau's life may still be somewhat shrouded in mystery, in the portion of the book surrounding "The Room"'s production many questions you may have had about the film get answered. Sestero manages to explain how a movie that looked so cheap cost $6 million dollars, why there are so many lapses in logic and consistency, and just how much power Wiseau had over the movie (literally all of it). Sestero also talks about the actors in the movie which really makes the reader understand why anyone would agree to appear in something so horrible. Sestero himself ended up in the movie because the day before they started filming Wiseau pleaded him to be in it, insisting that he wrote the part of Mark for him and offering him a ton of money and a new car to play the role . . . without firing the guy who was originally offered the part or telling him until they had been filming a few days. You learn why Juliette Danielle who plays Lisa took the role when so many other actresses balked out, how everyone felt so bad for Philip Haldiman being stuck playing the endlessly creepy character of Denny who was supposed to be about ten years his junior, and about the fascinating back story of Dan Janjigian who plays Chris-R. Sestero really makes you feel for these actors and crew members as he had, watching them fruitlessly offer suggestion, suffer in poor working conditions, and, often, furiously quit, all in the name of Wiseau's vanity project.

"The Disaster Artist" is captivating and hilarious and touching and terrifying in equal parts. Every fan of "The Room" should read it and, honestly, if you aren't a fan of "The Room", I would assume it just means you haven't seen it yet and therefore should.

As a final note, it must be said that earlier this year Seth Rogan's production company got the rights to the book and there is a film planned with James Franco directing and his younger brother, Dave Franco, playing Sestero. So that's a thing.

REWATCH: The Room [2003]

[Cross-posted on the Bad Movie Night Facebook page.]

What can I say about this masterpiece of bad cinema that hasn't already been said? It's a personal favorite of the Bad Movie Night crew and a few of us have seen it over twenty times. We love it so much that we decided to make viewings of it annual and since we had nothing else in particular set up to watch, we decided now was the time.

What I think captivates so many people about "The Room" is that its production value is surprisingly not terrible like so many other bad movies. The camera work is fine, nothing is particularly badly lit, it isn't edited strangely, and yet everything else is entirely wrong. I think this is why the film has rightfully earned the title of "The 'Citizen Kane' of Bad Movies." From the bad acting, the prime culprit being curiously-accented Tommy Wiseau, the director/writer/producer/lead actor/reanimated corpse, to the long soft-core sex scenes set to snooze-inducing R&B to the offensively anti-feminist script that makes all men and women look like unrepentant assholes to the repetitive conversations, this film is a legend. Just the mention of it makes you want to drink some scotchka (scotch + vodka for those not in the know) with a half Canadian bacon and pineapple and half artichoke and pesto light on the cheese pizza, throw the football around in a tux, and then decorate your living room with pictures of spoons and dishware. If you still need convincing, go to YouTube and look up "The Room flower shop scene" and feast your eyes on one of the most glorious scenes in cinematic history.

I've said enough. But anyway, how's your sex life?