The Room

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More About

• Citizen Kane
• Vincent Gallo
• Tommy Wiseau
• The Brown Bunny

No way did Entertainment Weekly think its judgment on The Room -- “the Citizen Kane of bad movies -- would kick off the film’s press materials. But, there it is. And The Room cannot stop packing theaters, six years after its premiere. It’s not bad-movie bad, but bad-movie astonishing, with a director who seemingly made such a terrible film -- terrible plot, terrible out-of-focus-shots, terrible rooftop scenes to allow for terrible green-screened S.F., and just terrible, terrible acting -- that you must pause to wonder: He is fucking with us? The jury says no, because that would make him an alien genius. The Room is that bad. Therefore, that good. Writer-director-star Tommy Wiseau has been busy making lemonade out of the whole thing, soaking up praise (Variety: “… makes Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny seem the apotheosis of cinematic self-restraint”), hosting screenings, mulling an overseas release. Hollywood A-list comedy people are totally obsessed with it -- even using it as a verb for sucking a scene up: “You roomed it” -- and now’s your chance. Bring plastic spoons. Don’t ask why.
Sat., Oct. 31, 11:59 p.m., 2009