2/10

Of course, I heard about The Room years ago, but I avoided seeing it until now because it’s a terrible movie. And by “terrible movie” I mean, it’s a terrible fucking movie. And by, “it’s a terrible fucking movie,” I mean, it’s totally awesome.

My favorite aspect of the film is Tommy Wiseau’s constant creepy child laugh that emits from his mouth with the almost clock-like regularity. This dude finds everything funny. He enters the room and sees his friends – “Hehehehe.” He says goodbye to someone – “Hehehehehe.” He finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend – “Hehehehe.” Well, maybe I’m not remembering that last part completely correctly because there was a very small period of time between when he learns the truth about his whore of a lover and when he blows a hole through his skull with the fun end of a handgun.

So, what can we learn from The Room? Certainly, Tommy Wiseau should be proud of the thing he created. I would be. He has made such a terrible trainwreck of a film that it will be remembered and dissected and quoted for years to come. That isn’t easy. How many films will live on as cult classics for perpetuity? As I’ve said before, I am always attracted to extremes; let’s aim for the top or the bottom and let’s tell all that middle junk to fuck off. The middle is the worst, the middle is the norm, and we can’t have that. No, aim to be the best or aim to be the worst, but whichever way you go aim for posterity. Because isn’t that the whole point of this? Isn’t that the point of art? Of novels? Of film? We want to create an expression that will live on and showcase our perspective in a particular place and in particular time. We want someone to look back at our work and get a glimpse into our mind frames. We want someone to look back, we want someone to look back and simply care.

And Tommy’s done it. I hope he appreciates what he has accomplished, because it is a rare thing indeed. So, sure, I’ll raise a glass to Tommy and congratulate him on this utter piece of shit movie and I’ll envy him for having either the brilliance or the stupidity or the luck or perhaps all three to actually cement something in the minds of those who appreciate cinematic foolishness.