Sunday, January 30, 2011

You are tearing me apart, Lisa!

As I previously mentioned, I went to the Burton Theatre on Friday to see The Room. 

It was, without question, one of the greatest movie going experiences I've ever had.



To start with, the theatre itself is in the auditorium of an old school in Midtown Detroit. The school isn't really in use anymore, at least not as a full time school. It's worth noting here that I love Detroit. All those bad things you've heard? None of them came from me. This is, without question, my city. And if there's something interesting going on, I'm in. Though, I will admit that I skipped out of the chicken races last summer, and I'm still bummed about it, but that's a story for some other time.

It goes without saying that, thanks to the internet, I knew what The Room was. I'd seen clips and read reviews. My friends and I knew it would be bad. Needless to say, we decided drinking was going to be a good idea. We brought small bottles and flasks in an effort to be discrete. This effort was all for naught, however, as we watched many people bringing in fifths and six packs.

The Room itself was as awful as anticipated, but the real fun in a movie like this comes from the crowd you see it with. It's a movie meant to be watched with many people yelling at the screen. There's no way it would be an enjoyable experience sitting in your living room watching it. It's too awful for that. You need an audience of people yelling 'Who the hell are you?' at the people randomly making out on the couch. You need the people cheering on the pan across the Golden Gate Bridge. You need people throwing plastic spoons at the screen. Without that, you're just watching a bad movie.

Plan 9 From Outer Space is a bad movie. Death Bed: The Bed That Eats is a bad movie. The Room is a terrible movie that belongs in the discussion of Worst Movie Ever with the likes of Plan 9 and Death Bed. In the right setting though, The Room is a hell of a lot of fun.

Comments (4)

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Man I think The Room is probably worse than Plan 9. There's just too many things wrong with it! I saw it while drunk but not with a crowd (just me and my boyfriend), so it wasn't as fun as I imagine a big screen, receptive audience screening would be. I also enjoyed the rifftrax version! Lots of goofy Wiseau impressions.
1 reply · active 739 weeks ago
If it's playing in a theater near you, go. It's worth sitting through again just for that experience.

After we saw the movie, we went to our favorite karaoke bar downtown, since it was only half a mile away. While there, someone announced that it was their friend Lisa's birthday. This lead to me, very loudly, shouting 'You are tearing me apart, Lisa!'. I never though I'd use a phrase like that outside of the theater.

As for Plan 9, yeah, The Room is much worse. Have you SEEN Death Bed: The Bed That Eats though? It's a tough call between it and The Room.
I have yet to hear from one person who attended it at a theater and came away disappointed. Awesome.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
There was a guy sitting in front of my friends who was getting VERY upset with the crowd. I think he came in expecting to really sit and watch a movie while everyone else was there to drink and yell at the screen. He probably came away disappointed.

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