“Hi Doggie”: The Unlikely Illustriousness of Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room”
There’s been a longtime sentiment that there are films that exist that are so bad, that they’re good. These movies show off a level of incompetency on so many fronts, that no matter the intended subject, they make for a pretty good comedy movie to watch with a group. Some examples include Samurai Cop, Birdemic: Shock and Terror, and Troll 2 among others. However, there are very few that are as prolific as Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 drama The Room.
What is The Room?
The Room is a 2003 drama film starring, written, directed, produced by Tommy Wiseau. In The Room, banker Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) lives with his fiancee Lisa (Juliette Danielle). While the two display endless passion, evidenced by the first long, drawn out sex scene within 10 minutes of the film starting, Lisa is bored with Johnny, and develops an affair with Johnny’s best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). The film is laughably bad, with nearly every facet of the film showing a complete lack of understanding the craft of film. The Room has amassed an enormous fan following who flock to midnight screenings nationwide, sometimes with the actors present. The making of the film was documented in actor Greg Sestero’s 2013 biography The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made, which was then adapted into the 2017 film The Disaster Artist starring James and Dave Franco as Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero respectively.
What makes The Room so special?
With many bad films, there’s always a visible notion that the production crew simply didn’t care. There are bad visual effects, effortless acting, or just lazy directing. The Room however, is so incredibly genuine in what it is trying to be. There’s a lot of love and effort poured into the project, and none of it came out right, but it still has an undeniable soul. The film cost reportedly $6 million to make, and there’s a lot of production value visible throughout. While the actors aren’t necessarily award worthy, you can tell they’re trying the their best. Despite all of its shortcomings, The Room has a beating heart that people flock to enjoy to this day. On top of the passion and care The Room exudes, it’s also special for some of the strangest moments in film. Some examples include the infamous rooftop scene, known for its terrible acting and stilted dialogue, the flower shop scene which is one of the quickest, most confusing exchanges I’ve yet to see topped and the incredibly iconic “You are tearing me APART, Lisa!” scene.
While some movies are remembered for their innovative stories, their memorable performances, or stellar dialogue, The Room is remembered for the same beats but flipped. It is on every level a complete disaster, but there is something so alluring, so charming about the way it carries itself, that it’s perfect in its own way. If the ranking scale allowed for negative digits, The Room scores a -10/10.
The Room is available for physical purchase on Amazon, The Disaster Artist film is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, and the Disaster Artist book is also available on Amazon.
