Revisiting The Room; a local screening with Greg Sestero
Jeremey Gingrich
March 10th, 2023
20 years ago, a movie was released which has been described as the Citizen Kane of bad movies, and anyone who has seen Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room” would say that is being generous. Even in the review I wrote for this website after a friend of mine showed me the DVD 13 years ago, I stated, “It is the worst thing on film and needs to be erased from the medium.”
The film has since become a cult classic not only in spite of that but actually for that very reason. The nonsensical melodramatic plot, lead actor (and writer, and director, and producer) with an unrecognizable accent and an untenable grasp of the concept of acting, bad and unnecessary green screen, clownish cinematography, gratuitous sex scenes and ridiculous football scenes have become the stuff of legend at packed theaters not only throughout America, but throughout the world (there have been screenings in India, France and even Antarctica).
It is that cult following that led co-star of the film Greg Sestero to write the memoir of that film’s making, The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made, in which he spilled the beans behind the scenes of the $6 million production process and his history with Tommy Wiseau. This, of course, ended up being even more hilarious than the absurdity of “The Room” itself, leading to James Franco adapting the memoir for a 2017 film which won him a Golden Globe for playing Wiseau, and even the movie getting nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Perhaps it is because of his memoir’s success that Greg Sestero has such a great sense of humor about “The Room,” and was game on the film’s 20th anniversary to trek to Dayton, Ohio for a screening at the local indie theater, The Neon. On this rainy Thursday night, Mr. Sestero did not only make a token hand-waving appearance, but rather signed autographs, took pictures with the patrons, answered questions before the screening, and even took part in a script reading of a scene from the film in front of the audience with volunteers anxious to share their acting chops.
He did not answer questions about his third film collaboration with Tommy Wiseau “Big Shark” which is stuck in post-production hell right now (they did a 2017 film “Best F(r)iends”), and he did skate a question about where Tommy really got the funding for “The Room” (speculation still runs
rampant), but other than that he presided over an enjoyable Q&A. He giddily recounted the joy he had recently when he got to reenact a scene from the film with Bob Odenkirk. He geeked out a bit when telling the crowd of being on the set of “The Disaster Artist” with Seth Rogen and Bryan Cranston. He was honest about the uncomfortable sex scenes, even walking out after one of them in a screening and overhearing another departing patron say “Well, I’ll never get hard again.” And when asked a question about an awkward line (they were all awkward, really) Wiseau delivers to a little dog in the flower shop, he revealed that Wiseau actually thought the dog was ceramic décor and was legitimately surprised to find out it was a real dog, and felt the need to acknowledge that in the movie… that led to a big laugh when the line was actually delivered.
After the Q&A, the movie was preceded by a short, not-quite-documentary of behind the scenes footage taken of Tommy Wiseau’s directing “style” while working on “The Room,” which basically consisted of firing multiple production crews, not knowing the difference between film and digital cameras, and answering every legitimate question an actor had about their dialogue with “It’s a twist.” There are also several interviews of the actors and production staff who all simultaneously appreciate that the film became such a cult hit and also look right at the audience that made it so and ask “What the *bleep* is wrong with you people?!!”
But the main attraction is the movie itself, and as soon as it started with the production logo of Wiseau Pictures, the crowd went crazy. This is the true draw of this epically bad movie. In the episode of “Seinfeld” in which Jerry was taking the gang to see “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” after they bail on him he exclaims “I can’t watch a bad movie by myself!” The beauty of these cult films is, you never have to! The community of these cult followers made this viewing experience truly enjoyable. The laughter throughout the film at every inscrutable line, at every preposterous sex scene, and of course every time they attempted to “play” football, rang throughout the entre theater. There’s (again, for no reason) a framed picture of a spoon in the movie, and every time it shows up in a shot, the audience yells “Spoon!” and throws plastic spoons. And the whole crowd (aside from some neophytes) knew the dialogue so well, they save the best lines to say out loud together:
“Oh, hi Mark.”
“I definitely have breast cancer.”
And of course, with gusto:
“You are tearing me apart, Lisa!”
In my review of THE ROOM I stated , “There is a cult following to this film…who attend midnight screenings and throw things and yell at the screen (in participation not hatred, as I would), likening it to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and THE BIG LEBOWSKI. However, drawing that comparison is an immense disservice to the actors, writers, and producers of those films, as the only thing I could liken to THE ROOM would be a Lifetime movie directed and written by third-graders. No matter what anyone tells you, do not watch this film.”
Yeah, that’s hogwash. As “The Room” celebrates its 20th anniversary, and Greg Sestero travels with it, if you have a chance to watch this with a packed theater of others, to rejoice and be glad that something this horribly wonderful exists in the world…you gotta do so.
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