Review: The Room

The Room
Dir. Tommy Wiseau
Year: 2003
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 99mins

Yesterday I had what I think I can say was the greatest cinematic experience of my life. Granted, I’ve only been alive for a quarter of a century and have made the cinema my second home for only half of that time, but last night was without a doubt a truly mind-blowing experience that I will not forget any time soon. I don’t think it’s making too much of a leap to say that Tommy Wiseau’s The Room is anything short of one of the very worst movies ever made in the history of cinema, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t make for one hell of a cinema going treat.

The Room follows the love triangle between three people who are also best friends and all live in the same apartment complex. It’s like Friends, but without the pretty hair and the sarcastic comebacks and “Smelly Cat”. Not to put too fine a point on it, but The Room is trash. Garbage, pure and simple. Horrendously written, acted even worse, shamelessly narcissistic and flat out ugly, and yet it is these very qualities that makes paying for a ticket and witnessing it all the more entertaining.


Last night I did indeed have the pleasure of attending a special advance preview screening – seven years after its release in the US I should add, which says a lot – of The Room before it begins an exclusive limited late-night run on Saturday nights throughout February at the Cinema Nova in Carlton. We had the added extra of having a Tommy Wiseau fan club in the audience, which certainly helped the crowd relax enough to openly mock this disastrous movie. I can’t speak for everyone, but the majority of the audience was certainly getting into the spirit of the event and only the dullest fuddy-duddy could sit there without laughing at the events transpiring on screen.

All part of the “event” of seeing The Room on the big screen was there. Partaking in cult rituals such as throwing spoons at the screen whenever a piece of spoon-related artwork appears, yelling “CANCER!” whenever the cancer-stricken (yet only once mentioned and in a hilarious nonchalant manner) mother appears on screen, chanting during panning shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and cheering when it reaches the other end (or expressing vocal disappointment when it does not), openly expressing one’s outright disgust at the many sex scenes, openly pointing out continuity flaws (a character is played by two completely different actors), bizarre lapses in logic (the engaged lead character never say the word “fiancé”, only “future wife” or “future husband”!?), strange nonsequitors (the aforementioned cancer, or the drug debt that the mildly-retarded Denny character finds himself in) or just howling with laughter at the sheer badness of the movie’s structure, special effects and original songs.


By the end of the 100 minutes that The Room somehow takes to tell its ridiculous story my voice was hoarse, tears had formed in my eyes many times and I had run out of plastic spoons less than half of the way through. John "Outland Institute" Richard and I had a riot. Openly bantering between one another, normally scornful, but here it just adds to the experience. Wanting to hear what other people are saying is part of the fun, realising that you noticed the same strange quirk as others - what was with all those GIANT candles?

The Room is not a movie you can sit down and watch by yourself on DVD. If you don't have the chance to witness it in all of its glory on a cinema screen then gather some friends, pop open a few (or ten) beers and let the experience be had. I can only hope that someday I get to watch movies like Showgirls or Jack Frost on the big screen with an equally appreciative audience. Nothing can quite replicate the experience of The Room, it's truly one-of-a-kind. As a film? F! As a cinema-going experience? A+

I would just like to add that The Room is a perfect example of my argument that you can't create a cult movie. A cult movie needs to be organic and grow out of a filmmaker legitimately thinking they are making a good movie. The Room didn't start out as a cinematic punching bag, but that's how it ended up. However, I can guarantee that there was even the slightest hint of Wiseau or his cast being in on the joke that it wouldn't be funny.

Top 50 Posters of the Decade: #25-1

Read Part One of the countdown from yesterday, if you didn't see it, before we continue on today with the best posters of the decade.

25. Zoo

Something about such a clean line makes this quite cold-design stand out (notice how it sorta looks like a back-to-front Z?) The detail looks so real and that tagline is excellent.

24. Irreversible

If you have a film that is a hard sell and has a scene that is sure to infamous then my general rule would be to utilise said scene in the marketing and that's what they've done here. The image is disturbing and frightening and the font play is another way the audience can become discombobulated. Gives me the creeps.

23. Mulholland Drive

It just feels so grand and old-fashioned (although I'm not sure why). Perhaps I am just biased towards the film - although this is the only poster that I am really keen on, for what it's worth - but the image has a mysterious quality that I've never been able to shake.

22. Black Snake Moan

Samuel L Jackson tying Christina Ricci up in chains on a retro grindhouse style of poster? Sign me up! Perhaps that's why the film flopped, because the marketing was so spot on. You can't say they chickened out!

21. American Psycho

Hot Jesus on a Sunday afternoon I think we could all afford to see that poster hanging in cinema foyers and on Blockbuster shelves couldn't we? COULDN'T WE?!? Why should women be the only ones objectified on movie posters? WHY?!

20. Small Time Crooks

The first of two Woody Allen posters to show up in the countdown. Fun visual gag alongside that attention-grabbing silhouette and a silly, but delightful, tagline. Considering the efforts that have gone into some Woody Allen films this past decade (go have a look at the horrendous designs for Whatever Works, Scoop and Anything Else) I think we can safely call this one a winner.

19. Michael Clayton

OMG! He's disappearing before our very eyes!!! You get the idea.

18. Precious

This (literally) shattering design that floored me the most of the film's many various designs. And for a movie poster to so bluntly push the film's sexual abuse angle is quite shocking.

17. Synecdoche, New York

It's not the most clean and well-executed poster on the list, but I love the idea and the almost home-made look of this Asian poster for Andy Kaufman's workout for the mind. It's a collage and I do love a collage!

16. Miami Vice

As part of a three-piece series this one-sheet featuring Gong Li bathed in shadow and sex stood out. Delicious blue colour and mystery out of the wazoo makes this poster just ooze Miami fever.

15. The Girlfriend Experience

"SEE IT WITH SOMEONE YOU ****" + Polka Dots + Barcode + That Face = #15 on this countdown. What a concept!

14. Goliath

The ultra-indie mumblecore movement brought us some unique and wonderful designs this decade from outside of the system and I have no idea what the movie is and yet I feel like I must see it or else I will EXPLODE. A lot of the time posters for these low budget independent movies can be really bad, but sometimes they have the luck of hiring a great designer (not necessarily a great design studio) who can come up with something like this.

13. Dear Zachery: A Letter to a Son About His Father

Quite moving, isn't it?

12. Anything Else

When I said up above at #20 that Woody Allen's Anything Else had been saddled with a dreadful poster I did not mean this - yet again - Asian design. What a treat this one is! Overflowing with visual delighs, from the use of that old-style map of New York City to the funny drawing and the apple and it all just adds up to something wonderful and almost whimsical (but not in the annoying indie way).

11. Bug

This poster freaks me the fuck out!!

10. Hard Candy

A masterpiece of imagery. Oh to be in the room when this idea came up, huh? I think everyone's heads must've exploded.

9. House of Wax

Horror one sheets need extra care and attention, they really do. They need something to stand out. And on that, this design for House of Wax does it's job perfectly, selling the premise (they turn people into wax statues) and doing so in a creepy and effective manner.

8. American Gangster

The posters for American Gangster are the reason why I spend so much time discussing the bad posters. This film is incredibly mainstream with a couple of big stars and an easy-to-sell premise, just like many movies. Except unlike those other movies the makers of this one chose to actually do something altogether different instead of throwing a couple of giant floating heads hovering over a pile of guns and cocaine like you would normally expect.

7. Look at Me

Another Jeremy Saunders design. I love the imagination on display here and for a movie that plays very literal (it very much relies on its words as spoken by intelligent people) it's a very sly design.

6. The Centre of the World

Sex. Lollipop. Hooker Heels. Red. Red. Red.

5. Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid

I haven't seen this movie, but I can't imagine it being anything other than ridiculous C-grade shlocky horror. Thankfully for us poster work doesn't discriminate and shlock horror tends to produce some of the most interesting designs. That is very much the case with Anacondas. This poster makes me wish that it had been around during the times of VHS and it would have used that bubble design and I probably would have spend time at the video store just ogling it.

4. INLAND EMPIRE

There are but two things you need to sell when it comes to INLAND EMPIRE. Those are David Lynch and Laura Dern. That they used Laura Dern's FAAACCE moment is what makes this design work so wholly. It is truly one of the scariest posters I have ever seen and yet I still want to hang it on my wall.

3. Antichrist

More Jeremy Saunders. I told you he was a genius at this stuff. So much has already been said this past year about this poster - hell, I've already done a blog piece on it earlier today - so I won't go into it again, but just look at it and tell me it doesn't make you queasy, excited, frightened, intrigued and perhaps even a bit giggly.

2. Suburban Mayhem

It's brilliant and I love it and it's amazing and perfect and stunning and just seriously great. From the comic book style, to the colour, to that amazing Emily Barclay pose to just everything.
And so we come to the top of the list. When I decided to do this list I already had the #1 spot locked and loaded. I didn't need a second opinion or to think it over, nothing. I knew. And I'm pretty sure you knew too!

1. Funny Games US

A poster that, itself, plays games with the audience. Is it a movie still? Is it painted? Is it just photoshopped? Who knows. I don't and I don't care, because it just looks so incredible. It would have been so easy to make this one of those annoying stripey posters or one where Naomi's tear-stricken face adorns the bottom right hand corner surrounded by empty space, but it's not. They chose to use an image that not only strikes possible pain, anguish and terror into anyone looking at it, but does so in a manner than screams "WE'RE HERE!" There's no hiding from Naomi's face on this one.

The contrast, that image, that tagline, the simple helvetica font, it all just works. It's become iconic in poster-watching circles and for good reason. It's topped most similar lists to this and, for a change, group think is actually right! Viva la Haneke, I guess. Nothing can get me to actually watch the movie (so perhaps that's an immediate fail right there?) but this poster should be plastered all over my wall like wallpaper and like the Mona Lisa it would follow me everywhere.
And that's that folks. Hope you enjoyed and hope you got plenty of eye candy out of it. Feel free to discuss in the comments. Agree? Disagree? Do you think I missed anything (I didn't)? Dive in if you wish. It's been a blast.

Getting the Word Out

Anybody with even the slightest interest in the history of LGBT-themes in cinema should check out the special engagement of 1977 documentary Word is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives at ACMI here in Melbourne. It started screening today and I meant to get around to writing about it beforehand, but life got in the way. It screens until 17 Jan so you have the weekend to check it out if you so desire (and you should).

Directed in part by Rob Epstein, who would go on to win an Oscar for his queer classic The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Treads: Stories From the Quilt, Word is Out interviews 26 subjects on their lives as gay Americans. It runs for over two hours and is very much a "talking heads" documentary. And yet it is a fascinating movie, a particularly moving time capsule of gay life, especially since the film comes around just before the onslaught of AIDS, and should be essential viewing for any gay audiences.

Everyone will surely identify themselves in at least one of the film's many interviewees. There is "the dyke", "the fag", "the lipstick lesbian", "the jock" and "the bear" for those who like to play the obvious stereotype game. Personally, I responded most to Roger Harkenrider (top left in the image below) whose battles with effeminate tags and his eventual embracing and "fuck it" attitude of the gay culture touched me through the wicked sense of humour that he shows. My favourite member of the cast was Pat Bond (bottom left), a hilarious ex-milatary woman whose ribald sense of humour gives the doco a much-needed kick in the pants from time to time when it threatens to, perhaps, become too dry. There's also Sally Gearhart (top right) who came to prominence working with Harvey Milk on Prop 6 and appeared in The Times of Harvey Milk. Here, she is equally smart and strong-willed. David Gillon (bottom right) is another memorable face as he tells the story of his struggles with coming out and marriage. I had hoped for more of Mark Penney, who sits in his high rise office wearing a suit and his angle would have been a more fascinating one to investigate.


The film really is good and so interesting to see how far, and yet how little, the gay movement has come in the 30 plus years since Word is Out premiered. B+

Top 50 Posters of the Decade: #50-26

You knew it was coming! I couldn't let the end of the decade pass and not do a list of the 50 best posters from the past ten years. Get ready for pure and utter gorgeousness. Now there is going to be obvious overlap with my 100 Greatest Movie Posters countdown from 2008, however, as with any list, if I had done that of any other day things would be difference and, thus, there are post-2000 titles on that list that appear further down on this list than you would think they should be. That's just the way it goes.

Honourable mentions? There are many. 25 to be exact. Consider them ranked as top left being #75 and bottom right being #51, but I didn't really put as much thought into them as I did the top 50. I will be posting numbers 50-26 today and the rest tomorrow. Enjoy.



50. Secretary

While so many people are eager to hoot and holler that Polish and Czech poster are where it’s at with their designs that mean nothing and their ugly aesthetics (well, a lot of the time, anyway), I actually think it is Asia that is producing the best alternative designs. You'll notice several of them on the list including this hot pink polka dot infused design for Secretary.

49. Dancer in the Dark

The most original design for Lars Von Trier's musical masterpiece, and one that subtly hints at the emotional wringer that audiences will be put through.

48. Adaptation

My admiration for this design as gone downhill quite a bit in the years since it first came to prominence. I still love the smudged text and my admiration for the Nicolas-Cage-is-Shattering thing has subsided since I've started to follow poster design closely. It's a great design, don't get me wrong, it just feels like the intervening years are lessened its specialness.

47. Saw

The original and the best. Am I talking about the films or the posters? Take a pick. However, in the realm of poster design the original started the trend and the rest are just following suit. Unless you're a hardcore anti-horror then I doubt you can say this didn't make you sit up and take a moment when you first saw them.

46. Sexy Beast

Doesn't this just make you chuckle? A little? Especially if you have seen the film and know what it's about.

45. Jesus' Son

While I have not seen Jesus' Son, I am lead to believe that it is not all sunshine and rainbows, and yet to incorporate such bold ideas onto this design takes guts.

44. Good Night, and Good Luck.

Perhaps the true star of key art design this decade gone was Jeremy Saunders. He has four designs on the countdown, but it could have been more. This uber-cool retro design for George Clooney's film should be used around the world, but it wasn't. Of course. Thankfully the international crowd seems to be catching on to this Saunders fellow.

43. Valentine

A dud of a movie, but like a lot of genre product, it has a solid and key piece of central design. Plus, dolls are creepy.

42. Swimming Pool.

It's got sex and it's got mystery. That's pretty much it.

41. The Prestige
40. Moon

Two hypnotic designs (for two equally impressive films, I might add) that add extra dimensions and texture to films that could have easily been marketed in a much more standard and stereotypical manner.

39. A Christmas Carol

Does a great job at selling the movie as the darker film it (apparently) is. If this were a horror movie I'd think it was even better since I actually get a bit of a chill from it, don't you?

38. Dave Chappelle's Block Party

A poster that shows off the film's joyous celebration of life mentality. I like that the musicians are in black and white with colour shooting out of them as if to say "all this colour and life can come from something gray." If you want.

37. Requiem for a Dream

It’s certainly “EYE” catching, isn’t it? Ba-doom-ch!

No, but seriously, for a poster that utilises the dreaded stripe design AND movie-still-as-marketing-device it works shockingly well. It kinda haunts and alludes to the film's crazy scattered mind.

36. The Dark Knight

I KNOW! How dare I put a poster from The Dark Knight so incredibly LOW on the list? I might as well just shoot myself now. And not even the "Why So Serious?" one, too? Yada Blah Etc.

35. Kill Bill, Vol. 1

Iconic and instantly recognisable. Probably the best use of block colour on a poster for the entire decade.

34. Lost in Translation

This poster - my preferred of the two major posters for Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation - conveys so much. The loneliness, the culture shock and the bewilderment all in a colourful and eye-catching design. It even has a dinosaur! And that tagline, "Everybody wants to be found", is bliss when it easily could have been "In a foreign land, two souls will connect" or some bull like that.

33. No Country for Old Men

Somehow it was Asia that had the bright idea to market the Coen Brothers' film on the ideas of American gothic. A much darker idea than the more recognised American posters and one that gives light to the shattering of an American ideal. Wonderful.

32. The Black Dahlia

There were many great designs to Brian DePalma's absurd loony bin of a movie, but this my favourite. Creepy and direct with a hint of retro.

31. High Tension

High saturation, high promise of horror and high visual panache. It works at showing off the film's grungy and violent appeal (even if the film is actually quite retched). Cecile de France looks super-imposing and I love that blood splatter at the barbed-wire end of her weapon.

30. 3:10 to Yuma

Yes, it looks like it's advertising a Bob Fosse western, but I think that's what makes it so brilliant bonkers. You have flamboyant gun toters, text running in all sorts of directions, random objects and one of helluva sight gag. Incredible inventive for a movie of a genre so indebted to history and formula.

29. In the Mood for Love

For a movie that is bathed in colour to use just ONE seems like it shouldn't work, but it does. That deep red is just dreamy and with Maggie and Tony all but sinking into it? Heavenly...

28. Code Unknown

Sometimes Michael Haneke films have incredible marketing, and other times it's as if nobody has any idea how to sell it. This design for Code Unknown is quite stunning in the way it represents the themes of the film (it is one of my favourite Haneke films for what it's worth) and the vague disappearing act that characters in this and all Haneke films seem to go through.

27. The House Bunny
26. The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Ever since Steve Carell looked up slightly to the left in the mall photo house-inspired poster for The 40-Year-Old Virgin (note: correct grammar) in 2005 the design has been aped, repeated and copied so many times that it is impossible to count. A lot of the time it has been done by Judd Apatow's own production house. However, nothing beats the original, although Anna Faris looking hilariously dumb on the poster for The House Bunny certainly came close. Just looking at them is bound to raise a giggle or five.
Make you come back tomorrow when we count down from #25 all the way to the best poster of the decade! Feel free to leave a comment!