We already covered the 11pm screening of THE ROOM Thursday June 24th at The Skyview Drive-in in Belleville (5700 N Belt W, Belleville, IL 62226), HERE. Now the Skyview folks have added two more films to that night’s program to make it an evening of (relatively recent) Cult Classics! The Facebook invite for this memorable night can be found HERE. The Skyview site can be found HERE
THE DISASTER ARTIST on screen 1 starts at 9pm (read my review of THE DISASTER ARTIST HERE)
I got the results of the test back – I definitely have breast cancer!”
The wait is almost over! The St. Louis movie event of the summer is this weekend! THE ROOM screens Midnights This Weekend (June 14th and 15th) at the Tivoli – with Tommy Wiseau in Person (!!!) as part of the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight Series. It’s his ‘Love Is Blind’ Tour! (I’m not sure what that means and I doubt he does either! All seats $20.00, no passes. A Faceboook invite for this event can be found HERE
There will be thousands of plastic spoons flying through the air in the Tivoli’s main screen this weekend. Grown men in tuxedoes will be throwing footballs three feet away from each other in the Tivoli’s lobby. What’s going on and who will that strange man with the sunglasses, odd accent and black stringy hair be that everyone will be crowded around?
Our city is bracing itself for the arrival of the one and only Tommy Wiseau! St. Louis-area fans of THE ROOM will have the opportunity to meet the film’s talented, handsome, and charismatic star, writer and director when he comes to Landmark’s Tivoli Theater here (6350 Delmar in The Loop) for midnight shows of his film this weekend (August 25th and 26th). His big box of THE ROOM T-Shirts, DVD’s, posters, ‘Johnny’ bobbleheads will be sitting at the Tiv, ready to sign for his legion of adoring fans. THE DISASTER ARTIST, a movie about the making of THE ROOM and starring James Franco as Tommy, opens in December.
Tommy will set up in the Tivoli’s lobby around 10:30pm for the autograph session. This will be followed by a Q&A, an audience interactive game, and a midnight showing of THE ROOM. It’s the cultural event of the St. Louis summer!
Tickets can be purchased in advance, or just show up. The Tiv seats 420 souls and is located at 6350 Delmar in The Loop.
There are different types of “Bad Movies”. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Writer/director Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is but St. Louis-area fans of THE ROOM will have the opportunity to ask him this weekend when he comes to Landmark’s Tivoli Theater here (6350 Delmar in The Loop) for midnight shows of his film the weekend of June 14th and 15th
THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans.It began playing midnights all across the country, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes and dialog like “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!(think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). There’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation. A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the unlikeliest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).
It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof. Was he? Ask him this summer when he appears at the Tivoli to sign his book on THE ROOM, sign autographs, and answer questions. Tickets are $15 each. Look for more coverage of this major upcoming cultural event here at We Are Movie Geeks.com, It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.
Don’t miss THE ROOM and your chance to meet Tommy Wiseau this weekend!
Here’s the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight schedule for the next month:
June 21-22 THE SHINING New 4K Digital Restoration!
“I got the results of the test back – I definitely have breast cancer.”
THE ROOM plays this weekend (September 28th and 29th) at the Tivoli. THE DISASTER ARTIST, the film about the making of THE ROOM opened this past weekend to spectacular reviews (read my review HERE).
There are different types of ‘Bad Movies’. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is.
Fans of bad cinema who live in the St. Louis area have something to celebrate this weekend. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM, crowned as ‘the Worst Movie Ever Made’ by pretty much everyone who has seen it, will be playing midnights this Friday and Saturday (September 28th and 29th) at the Tivoli. Last summer we had Tommy Wiseau’s triumphant return to the Tivoli to host several screenings of THE ROOM .
THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans. It’s been playing midnights in larger cities for a couple of years now, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes (think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). I’ve seen THE ROOM many times (the first was from Netflix, when I watched it twice because I thought I had dreamed what I watched the first time) and can’t wait to see it again with a live interactive audience so I too can shout out “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!” I won’t bother reviewing THE ROOM because there’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation.
A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the creepiest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).
It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof, or dark comedy all along. I’m not buying it. I’ve read and seen too many interviews with Wiseau. I’ve interviewed him myself (he called me and said “You have twenty minutes of my time!”….an hour later I said to him “Dude, I have to go – gotta to make dinner for my kids!”). I’m convinced he really was trying to make a serious drama with THE ROOM. Watch the extras on the THE ROOM DVD and you’ll observe a man who just isn’t all there. I’ve never seen someone with such a complete lack of self-awareness and oblivious narcissism. Sorry Tommy, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you. I don’t mean to begrudge the guy, as I understand it takes a lot of hard work to get a feature film made and he should just be glad he’s managed to turn himself into something of a cult figure. Wiseau says THE ROOM was based on his unpublished novel and never-performed play (!). Wiseau also claims the film’s budget was 6 million dollars but I’m sure 95% of that went to pay for the billboards he posted along Sunset Boulevard for four straight years promoting THE ROOM that show a huge close-up of his foul mug and the purchase of a full page “for your Oscar consideration” ad in Variety. Wiseau’s film failed to receive any nominations but he has self-published a glossy commemorative hardback book on the making of THE ROOM. I must have that book! It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.
Now you can find out what all the fuss is about when THE ROOM plays on the big screen this weekend (September 28th and 29th) at the Tivoli.
A Facebook invite for this weeknd can be found HERE
“I got the results of the test back – I definitely have breast cancer.”
THE ROOM plays this weekend (May 18th and 19th) at the Tivoli. THE DISASTER ARTIST, the film about the making of THE ROOM opened this past weekend to spectacular reviews (read my review HERE).
There are different types of ‘Bad Movies’. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is.
Fans of bad cinema who live in the St. Louis area have something to celebrate this weekend. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM, crowned as ‘the Worst Movie Ever Made’ by pretty much everyone who has seen it, will be playing midnights this Friday and Saturday (February 23rd and 24th) at the Tivoli. Last summer we had Tommy Wiseau’s triumphant return to the Tivoli to host two screenings of THE ROOM .
THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans. It’s been playing midnights in larger cities for a couple of years now, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes (think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). I’ve seen THE ROOM many times (the first was from Netflix, when I watched it twice because I thought I had dreamed what I watched the first time) and can’t wait to see it again with a live interactive audience so I too can shout out “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!” I won’t bother reviewing THE ROOM because there’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation.
A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the creepiest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).
It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof, or dark comedy all along. I’m not buying it. I’ve read and seen too many interviews with Wiseau. I’ve interviewed him myself (he called me and said “You have twenty minutes of my time!”….an hour later I said to him “Dude, I have to go – gotta to make dinner for my kids!”). I’m convinced he really was trying to make a serious drama with THE ROOM. Watch the extras on the THE ROOM DVD and you’ll observe a man who just isn’t all there. I’ve never seen someone with such a complete lack of self-awareness and oblivious narcissism. Sorry Tommy, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you. I don’t mean to begrudge the guy, as I understand it takes a lot of hard work to get a feature film made and he should just be glad he’s managed to turn himself into something of a cult figure. Wiseau says THE ROOM was based on his unpublished novel and never-performed play (!). Wiseau also claims the film’s budget was 6 million dollars but I’m sure 95% of that went to pay for the billboards he posted along Sunset Boulevard for four straight years promoting THE ROOM that show a huge close-up of his foul mug and the purchase of a full page “for your Oscar consideration” ad in Variety. Wiseau’s film failed to receive any nominations but he has self-published a glossy commemorative hardback book on the making of THE ROOM. I must have that book! It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.
Now you can find out what all the fuss is about when THE ROOM plays on the big screen this weekend (May 18th and 19th) at the Tivoli.
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!
“I got the results of the test back – I definitely have breast cancer.”
THE ROOM plays this weekend (February 23rd and 24th) at the Tivoli. THE DISASTER ARTIST, the film about the making of THE ROOM opened this past weekend to spectacular reviews (read my review HERE).
There are different types of ‘Bad Movies’. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is.
Fans of bad cinema who live in the St. Louis area have something to celebrate this weekend. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM, crowned as ‘the Worst Movie Ever Made’ by pretty much everyone who has seen it, will be playing midnights this Friday and Saturday (February 23rd and 24th) at the Tivoli. Last summer we had Tommy Wiseau’s triumphant return to the Tivoli to host two screenings of THE ROOM .
THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans. It’s been playing midnights in larger cities for a couple of years now, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes (think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). I’ve seen THE ROOM many times (the first was from Netflix, when I watched it twice because I thought I had dreamed what I watched the first time) and can’t wait to see it again with a live interactive audience so I too can shout out “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!” I won’t bother reviewing THE ROOM because there’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation.
A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the creepiest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).
It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof, or dark comedy all along. I’m not buying it. I’ve read and seen too many interviews with Wiseau. I’ve interviewed him myself (he called me and said “You have twenty minutes of my time!”….an hour later I said to him “Dude, I have to go – gotta to make dinner for my kids!”). I’m convinced he really was trying to make a serious drama with THE ROOM. Watch the extras on the THE ROOM DVD and you’ll observe a man who just isn’t all there. I’ve never seen someone with such a complete lack of self-awareness and oblivious narcissism. Sorry Tommy, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you. I don’t mean to begrudge the guy, as I understand it takes a lot of hard work to get a feature film made and he should just be glad he’s managed to turn himself into something of a cult figure. Wiseau says THE ROOM was based on his unpublished novel and never-performed play (!). Wiseau also claims the film’s budget was 6 million dollars but I’m sure 95% of that went to pay for the billboards he posted along Sunset Boulevard for four straight years promoting THE ROOM that show a huge close-up of his foul mug and the purchase of a full page “for your Oscar consideration” ad in Variety. Wiseau’s film failed to receive any nominations but he has self-published a glossy commemorative hardback book on the making of THE ROOM. I must have that book! It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.
Now you can find out what all the fuss is about when THE ROOM plays on the big screen this weekend (February 23rd and 24th) at the Tivoli.
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!
“I got the results of the test back – I definitely have breast cancer.”
THE ROOM plays this weekend (January 26th and 27th) at the Tivoli. THE DISASTER ARTIST, the film about the making of THE ROOM opened this past weekend to spectacular reviews (read my review HERE). A Facebook invite for next weekend’s screenings can be found HERE
There are different types of ‘Bad Movies’. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is.
Fans of bad cinema who live in the St. Louis area have something to celebrate this weekend. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM, crowned as ‘the Worst Movie Ever Made’ by pretty much everyone who has seen it, will be playing midnights this Friday and Saturday (January 26th and 27th) at the Tivoli. Last summer we had Tommy Wiseau’s triumphant return to the Tivoli to host two screenings of THE ROOM .
THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans. It’s been playing midnights in larger cities for a couple of years now, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes (think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). I’ve seen THE ROOM many times (the first was from Netflix, when I watched it twice because I thought I had dreamed what I watched the first time) and can’t wait to see it again with a live interactive audience so I too can shout out “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!” I won’t bother reviewing THE ROOM because there’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation.
A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the creepiest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).
It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof, or dark comedy all along. I’m not buying it. I’ve read and seen too many interviews with Wiseau. I’ve interviewed him myself (he called me and said “You have twenty minutes of my time!”….an hour later I said to him “Dude, I have to go – gotta to make dinner for my kids!”). I’m convinced he really was trying to make a serious drama with THE ROOM. Watch the extras on the THE ROOM DVD and you’ll observe a man who just isn’t all there. I’ve never seen someone with such a complete lack of self-awareness and oblivious narcissism. Sorry Tommy, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you. I don’t mean to begrudge the guy, as I understand it takes a lot of hard work to get a feature film made and he should just be glad he’s managed to turn himself into something of a cult figure. Wiseau says THE ROOM was based on his unpublished novel and never-performed play (!). Wiseau also claims the film’s budget was 6 million dollars but I’m sure 95% of that went to pay for the billboards he posted along Sunset Boulevard for four straight years promoting THE ROOM that show a huge close-up of his foul mug and the purchase of a full page “for your Oscar consideration” ad in Variety. Wiseau’s film failed to receive any nominations but he has self-published a glossy commemorative hardback book on the making of THE ROOM. I must have that book! It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.
Now you can find out what all the fuss is about when THE ROOM plays on the big screen this weekend (January 26th and 27th) at the Tivoli.
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!
Come see the Midnight Movie phenomenon that sells out screenings around the globe with this special screening of Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM in all its spectacularly insane glory! The event is January 10th at 8pm (CT) and will feature Tommy Wiseau commercials, an inside look at a Hollywood screening and the trailer for Tommy and Greg Sestero’s upcoming film BEST F(R)IENDS. This is a Fathom Event and tickets can be purchased HERE
There are different types of ‘Bad Movies’. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is.
THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans. It’s been playing midnights in larger cities for a couple of years now, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes (think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). I’ve seen THE ROOM many times (the first was from Netflix, when I watched it twice because I thought I had dreamed what I watched the first time) and can’t wait to see it again with a live interactive audience so I too can shout out “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!” I won’t bother reviewing THE ROOM because there’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation.
A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the creepiest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).
It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof, or dark comedy all along. I’m not buying it. I’ve read and seen too many interviews with Wiseau. I’ve interviewed him myself (he called me and said “You have twenty minutes of my time!”….an hour later I said to him “Dude, I have to go – gotta to make dinner for my kids!”). I’m convinced he really was trying to make a serious drama with THE ROOM. Watch the extras on the THE ROOM DVD and you’ll observe a man who just isn’t all there. I’ve never seen someone with such a complete lack of self-awareness and oblivious narcissism. Sorry Tommy, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you. I don’t mean to begrudge the guy, as I understand it takes a lot of hard work to get a feature film made and he should just be glad he’s managed to turn himself into something of a cult figure. Wiseau says THE ROOM was based on his unpublished novel and never-performed play (!). Wiseau also claims the film’s budget was 6 million dollars but I’m sure 95% of that went to pay for the billboards he posted along Sunset Boulevard for four straight years promoting THE ROOM that show a huge close-up of his foul mug and the purchase of a full page “for your Oscar consideration” ad in Variety. Wiseau’s film failed to receive any nominations but he has self-published a glossy commemorative hardback book on the making of THE ROOM. I must have that book! It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.
A love story between a girl and a sea creature, a satire reflecting racial issues in today’s society, and two inspiring lessons of four weeks in 1940 during which Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s courage to lead changed the course of world history and one of the greatest suspense stories of all time where British and Allied troops, trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea, faced an impossible situation as the enemy closed in. Horror, fantasy, historical epic, comedy, drama… the motion pictures tales of 2017 had something for all.
Theater marquees were filled with familiar titles such as STAR WARS, INDEPENDENCE DAY, ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, and KONG while Guardians, Superheroes and Wonder Women saved the day once again.
Cinema-goers were offered a fresh perspective on the parent-child bond, an insightful look as two giant newspapers expose a massive cover-up of government secrets, as well as a dark comic drama where a mother makes a bold move to solve her daughter’s murder.
As with every holiday season, critics groups are revealing their top 10 films of the year. Awards season is truly upon us.
Three hundred forty-one feature films are eligible for the 2017 Academy Awards in the Best Picture category. The St. Louis Film Critics Association announced as their best film of 2017 Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance, THE SHAPE OF WATER.
Tune in Sunday, March 4th for the 90th Oscars.
Here’s a look back at the motion pictures of the past twelve months.
WAMG presents the top ten films of 2017, along with our honorable mention and most awesome soundtrack.
Honorable Mention:
THE DISASTER ARTIST
Ironic that the creator of what many label the ‘worst film of all time’ gets one of the best Hollywood-themed biopics ever made about him. THE DISASTER ARTIST stands out as one successful outsider’s tribute to a failed kindred spirit. It’s the funniest film of 2017 and one of the best. (REVIEW)
Best Soundtrack:
BABY DRIVER
What might be the most astonishing feat but feels effortless, is the editing accompanied with each carefully selected song. The soundtrack, which runs the gamut from 60’s R&B like Carla Thomas, 70’s punk including The Damned, and a dash of modern hip-hop with Run the Jewels, is used throughout the film to coincide with the action, making the film the equivalent of an action movie musical. It’s one thing to listen to these songs, but it’s completely different watching how each drum beat and chord change matches perfectly with the film. (REVIEW)
10. COCO
After a trio of so-so features, Pixar breaks new ground with this visually stunning masterwork set “south of the border” and the Day of the Dead celebrations. An odd choice for “all ages” film animation, but this explores themes far beyond most “kiddie” flicks. Yes, the colors, from the after-life cities to the flourescent hybrid “spirit animals”, dazzle, but the movie’s real strength is its tribute to family legacies. And like the best of Pixar’s classic it packs a real emotional punch to the heart. (REVIEW)
9. DARKEST HOUR
Director Joe Wright reports, “Daytime meals for Winston would often be accompanied by a glass of white wine and/or scotch, and because of the hours he kept it was not unusual for him to hold meetings from his bed, or even from his bath. He’d dictate memos for the day from bed and receive visitors and talk about matters of state wearing his dressing gown and nightshirt.” This is only a partial glimpse into the man that saved the British Empire from almost certain invasion by the Nazis. This is what’s so great about DARKEST HOUR – establishing the character traits of the British Bulldog! He was the architect of the Operation Dynamo boat rescue at Dunkirk, where civilian crafts and everyday people were called upon to help get their countrymen home. One of best films on the eccentric PM, gloriously portrayed by Gary Oldman, it is a fine bookend to Christopher Nolan’s DUNKIRK. The other noteworthy performance is that of Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as Churchill’s wife, Clementine. Conveying class and distinction, intelligence and sharp wit, the Oscar nominated actress was the perfect match for Oldman on-screen. (REVIEW)
8. LOGAN
Photo Credit: James Mangold.
James Mangold has delivered an X-Men film unlike any that has come before it. After the initial shock of hearing the character use the f-word followed by the limb-severing visceral violence, what will hit the hardest for fans is witnessing Mangold slice open and get to the emotional core of this beloved character we have watched evolve for now eight films (nine if you count a brief cameo). LOGAN is a poetic journey that is about unexpectedly finding new life after giving up on cheating death. (REVIEW)
7. THE BIG SICK
A comedy that does not sound funny when you describe it, THE BIG SICK is a hilarious comedy that takes a potential tragedy, mixes it with cross-cultural romance and an American son coping with his Pakistani immigrant parents, to find a vein of unexpected comedy gold. Bitingly funny yet insightful, the story is partly based on the real life of comedian Kamail Nanjiani. THE BIG SICK has more twists than you can imagine, and a hilarious, jaw-dropping performance by a fierce Holly Hunter, in a tale that provokes hilarious laughs and deep thought on the meaning of love, family and the classic second-generation American tale. (REVIEW)
6. DUNKIRK
Sometimes when you have been through hell and back, there isn’t anything you can say to properly convey the emotions and the experience. Without saying much, Christopher Nolan tries to express the raw emotions of war by dropping the viewer into the scenario as opposed to explaining the how and the why of the situation. While some might be hoping for more from the story, perhaps Nolan is actually saying much more amid the cacophony of racing hearts, plane engines, bullet-riddled metal, and silent soldiers looking for hope as the waves and bombs crash against the beach. (REVIEW)
5. THE POST
Steven Spielberg delivers a fabulous film about the Nixon-era Pentagon Papers and the Washington Post’s 1973 decision to publish them, told as a gripping, intrigue-packed, period thriller, about freedom of the press and with a feminist undercurrent. Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are outstanding as Washington Post owner Katherine Graham and editor Ben Bradlee, who defy the restraining order the Nixon administration placed on the New York Times to publish the secret papers about the Vietnam War that led to Watergate and Richard Nixon’s resignation. It is Spielberg’s best film in years.
4. GET OUT
This past February, Jordan Peele, half of a wildly successful cable TV comedy team, made his feature film solo writing and directing debut by taking movie audiences on a memorable journey to the “Sunken Place”. Originally promoted as a horror thriller, it turned out to be so much more, at times a rowdy comedy, but also a scathing satire on society that still has us talking today. And if you were fortunate enough to see it in a packed theatre, you know that Peele is an exciting new cinema voice. And I’ll bet he just breezes through the airport now thanks to this flick. (REVIEW)
3. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
With top-notch work from an imaginatively-assembled cast headed by Frances McDormand, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI combines sweet-natured cheer with twisted malice, and unspeakable grief with offbeat humor, all set against a familiar mid-Missouri backdrop. The result is a modern masterpiece. (REVIEW)
2. LADY BIRD
Just as with Jordan Peele’s GET OUT, this year we were stunned by the superb solo writing and directing debut of another actor, Greta Gerwig. She took the “coming of age”, “young person at a crossroad” comedy/drama and elevated it to a new level by giving us a throughly real, very complex main character. It helps that she’s brought to life by the exquisite Saoirse Ronan, who truly shines in the honest complicated relationship with her mother, played by the great Laurie Metcalf in a most memorable performance. It’s in those scenes that LADY BIRD takes flight and soars. (REVIEW)
Magical, evocative THE SHAPE OF WATER blends Cold War thriller, romance, and monster movie genres in director Guillermo Del Toro’s best film since PAN’S LABYRINTH. Cinematically and as entertainment, THE SHAPE OF WATER exceeds on all levels. There is fine acting by an excellent cast, a story that offers a thought-provoking twist on the monster genre, beautiful moody photography, magical visual effects, and brilliant direction. Sally Hawkins is amazing in the lead role, creating an appealing and mysterious character we fall in love with, all without speaking a word. (REVIEW)
Films we can’t wait to see in 2018: DEADPOOL 2, MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, BLACK PANTHER, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, WINCHESTER, ANNIHILATION, DEATH WISH, A WRINKLE IN TIME, PACIFIC RIM UPRISING, READY PLAYER ONE, THE NEW MUTANTS, SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, INCREDIBLES 2, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, THE PREDATOR, VENOM, HALLOWEEN, CREED 2, FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD, RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: WRECK-IT RALPH 2, MARY POPPINS RETURNS, and Damien Chazelle’s FIRST MAN (the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong. Stars Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy. October 2018).
Check out our contributors individual picks for the year that was 2017.
Jim Batts
THE SHAPE OF WATER
COCO
LADY BIRD
THE POST
THE BIG SICK
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
PHANTOM THREAD
BRAD’S STATUS
GET OUT
Other Favorites: THE DISASTER ARTIST
Tom Stockman
DUNKIRK
THE DISASTER ARTIST
THE SHAPE OF WATER
COCO
BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99
KONG SKULL ISLAND
BRAD’S STATUS
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MO
LOGAN LUCKY
A DOG’S PURPOSE
Other Favorites: BLADE RUNNER 2049, MOTHER!, WIND RIVER, AMERICAN MADE
Cate Marquis
THE POST
THE SHAPE OF WATER
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
BLADE RUNNER 2049
THE BIG SICK
DARKEST HOUR
GET OUT
LADY BIRD
A GHOST STORY
PHANTOM THREAD
Other Favorites: THE BEGUILED, LADY MACBETH, FACES PLACES, DUNKIRK, FLORIDA PROJECT
“I got the results of the test back – I definitely have breast cancer.”
THE ROOM plays this weekend (December 15th and 16th) at the Tivoli. THE DISASTER ARTIST, the film about the making of THE ROOM opened this past weekend to spectacular reviews (read my review HERE).
There are different types of ‘Bad Movies’. It’s become sport to poke fun at bloated star vehicles such as ISHTAR, GLITTER, or GIGLI but those films are usually miserable experiences to actually sit through. There are films that are intentionally bad such as those from Troma studios (TOXIC AVENGER, POULTRYGEIST) but Troma knows its audience and anyone seeing a Troma film knows what they are getting into. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM belongs with the group of movies that are so bad that they can transform their own awfulness into a “comedy of errors”. Unlike more mundane bad films, these films develop an ardent following of fans who love them because of their poor quality, because normally, the errors (technical or artistic) or wildly contrived plots are unlikely to be seen elsewhere and they become great entertainment in spite of themselves. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is the most famous film in this category but its director, Ed Wood, made his films while cloaked in an alcoholic haze (and bra) while convinced he was making great art. I’m not sure what Tommy Wiseau’s excuse is.
Fans of bad cinema who live in the St. Louis area have something to celebrate this weekend. Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM, crowned as ‘the Worst Movie Ever Made’ by pretty much everyone who has seen it, will be playing midnights this Friday and Saturday (December 15th and 16th) at the Tivoli. Last summer we had Tommy Wiseau’s triumphant return to the Tivoli to host two screenings of THE ROOM .
THE ROOM is an independently-made, self-distributed movie Wiseau wrote, directed, and starred in back in 2003 that would have been quickly forgotten if it hadn’t found new life after being discovered by some courageous Los Angeles movie fans. It’s been playing midnights in larger cities for a couple of years now, complete with prop-throwing, dialog-heckling, and the audience acting out scenes (think ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW without the bustiers). I’ve seen THE ROOM many times (the first was from Netflix, when I watched it twice because I thought I had dreamed what I watched the first time) and can’t wait to see it again with a live interactive audience so I too can shout out “Lisa, you’re tearing me apart!” I won’t bother reviewing THE ROOM because there’s no real way of adequately describing the film’s amusements in standard critique but I will say that it really does live up (or in this case down) to its reputation.
A most uncomplicated love story, THE ROOM stars Wiseau as Johnny, a long-haired banker whose trampy girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle) is having an affair with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). Johnny gets upset. The End. To be sure, THE ROOM is a craptacular train wreck that will have you rolling on the floor with laughter because of its stupidity, but it is so transcendent in its dreadfulness that it actually becomes a thing of beauty. All of THE ROOMS’s cult achievement rests squarely on the awkward shoulders of Tommy Wiseau, the creepiest leading man ever to grace the big screen. Wiseau looks like Gene Simmons’ squat, constipated brother and has an incredibly uncomfortable screen presence. Speaking in a vague Eastern European accent (he claims he’s originally from France. He also claims to study psychology ‘as a hobby’), his every line is mumbled in the same phonetic, euro-sleaze inflection and concluded with a forced, strangled giggle. Wiseu directs himself in three long soft-core sex scenes, each one accompanied by an excruciating song and while Wiseu could have hired as his leading lady an unattractive actress who could act or a beauty who couldn’t, Juliette Danielle is both homely and untalented. I hate to be cruel but with her bad teeth, folds of fat that pop out of her lingerie, and nervous tick neck-twitch, she actually outdoes Wiseu in the lack-of-charisma department (at I first suspected she must be Wiseau’s girlfriend until I read an interview where he claims to have discovered her the day before shooting began when he spotted her stepping off a bus!).
It’s hard to explain the appeal of THE ROOM to someone who hasn’t seen it. I could describe the craziness that abounds such as the scene when the guys go outside and toss a football around from about three feet apart while reciting wretched dialog, or mention that a main character announces she has cancer halfway through, a development never again revisited, but there’s no way my descriptions can do THE ROOM’s unintentional delights justice. After all the anti-acclaim the film has received, Wiseau has backpedaled and now claims he was making a spoof, or dark comedy all along. I’m not buying it. I’ve read and seen too many interviews with Wiseau. I’ve interviewed him myself (he called me and said “You have twenty minutes of my time!”….an hour later I said to him “Dude, I have to go – gotta to make dinner for my kids!”). I’m convinced he really was trying to make a serious drama with THE ROOM. Watch the extras on the THE ROOM DVD and you’ll observe a man who just isn’t all there. I’ve never seen someone with such a complete lack of self-awareness and oblivious narcissism. Sorry Tommy, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you. I don’t mean to begrudge the guy, as I understand it takes a lot of hard work to get a feature film made and he should just be glad he’s managed to turn himself into something of a cult figure. Wiseau says THE ROOM was based on his unpublished novel and never-performed play (!). Wiseau also claims the film’s budget was 6 million dollars but I’m sure 95% of that went to pay for the billboards he posted along Sunset Boulevard for four straight years promoting THE ROOM that show a huge close-up of his foul mug and the purchase of a full page “for your Oscar consideration” ad in Variety. Wiseau’s film failed to receive any nominations but he has self-published a glossy commemorative hardback book on the making of THE ROOM. I must have that book! It doesn’t get worse than THE ROOM, and that’s a good thing.
Now you can find out what all the fuss is about when THE ROOM plays on the big screen this weekend (December 15th and 16th) at the Tivoli.
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!
Ironic that the creator of what many label the ‘worst film of all time’ gets one of the best Hollywood-themed biopics ever made about him (I could have written this in 1994 after seeing ED WOOD). In 2003, writer/director/star Tommy Wiseu’s THE ROOM was released into a single theater in Los Angeles (to qualify for the Oscars). That movie, ostensibly a drama about relationships and love, was a laughingstock; poorly shot, amateurishly acted, horribly written, a general trainwreck, but it attracted an immense, and still-growing, cult following. Fans revel in its insanity at midnight all over (it’s at The Tivoli in St. Louis Dec 15th and 16th). I don’t typically buy into the whole “a film so bad it’s good” concept, and THE ROOM doesn’t really fit that category anyway. Wiseu’s film is so clearly a labor of love, so clearly a passion project that it’s impossible not to find charm in its craziness. Greg Sestero costarred in THE ROOM and wrote the book The Disaster Artist, his account of the making of the film as well as his friendship with Wiseau. I’m pleased to report that THE DISASTER ARTIST, the movie directed by James Franco who stars as Wiseau, is every bit as fascinating and hilarious as I hoped it would be.
THE DISASTER ARTIST gets a lot of mileage out of the fact that nobody knows where Wiseau, this strange dude with his greasy black locks and creepy eurotrash accent, comes from, or where he get his “bottomless pit” of financial funding. THE DISASTER ARTIST is a portrait of a genuinely clueless man with a passion for fulfilling his dream without the talent to do so. It’s told through the eyes of Sestero (played by a likable Dave Franco), a struggling young actor who found himself in the right place at the right time when he first met Wiseau in a San Francisco acting class. The pair moved to Los Angeles where, after finding their acting prospects drying up, they decided to embark on the project of making their own movie. The second half of THE DISASTER ARTIST chronicles the highly calamitous shooting of THE ROOM right up to its crazy premiere. Franco recreates many of the bizarre and incompetent choices that Wiseau made shooting his opus, such as filming his movie on 35mm and digital film simultaneously at ridiculous expense, buying the equipment instead of renting it, building pricey sets for locations he could have used for free, and firing crew members at will. Viewers familiar with THE ROOM will recognize the pathetic football tossing, marvel at how many takes it Tommy needs to remember his lines, and enjoy the cast and crew’s reaction to his creepy, bad-aim lovemaking technique.
Franco, along with screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber could easily have made THE DISASTER ARTIST a mean-spirited jab, but the film mostly avoids easy, patronizing laughs and instead shows the near heroic qualities of this patently untalented artist. That Wiseau never seemed to get wind of his shortcomings is what makes him here so irresistible. Franco delivers his lines with a perfect riff on Wiseau’s accent and off-putting lack of affect, even when screaming “You’re tearing me apart Lisa!” in existential anguish just like his hero James Dean. Both vocally and physically, Franco’s simply astounding, and he’s surrounded himself with a sublime supporting cast. Seth Rogan as Sandy, THE ROOM’s exasperated Director of Photography, is the closest thing THE DISASTER ARTIST has to an audience surrogate, and he gets the film’s biggest laughs as he deals with bizarre demands from Wiseau he doesn’t even understand. Jacki Weaver has some good moments as the confused actress whose breast cancer revelation is dropped for the duration of THE ROOM’s screenplay. Melanie Griffith, Sharon Stone, Zac Effron, and Scott Hutcherson all shine in smaller roles. Outrageously entertaining, THE DISASTER ARTIST stands out as one successful outsider’s tribute to a failed kindred spirit and is highly recommended. It’s the funniest film of 2017 and one of the best.
