Event

THE ROOM

The man is Tommy Wiseau, the self-taught auteur who wrote, directed, produced and starred in The Room, a movie that pitches itself as "an electrifying American black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies," but is more aptly described as an unholy fusion of melodrama, softcore and unintentional comedy. And those are the movie's good points.

The film's so-bad-it's-freakin'-awesome vibe has attracted a devout army of aficionados whose membership includes the cream of Hollywood's comedy community. Role Models star Paul Rudd and Arrested Development's David Cross are both fans, as is Jonah Hill, who uses a still from the movie as his MySpace photograph. Heroes star Kristen Bell hosts Room-viewing parties at her house and last year attended the film's monthly Laemmle screening with Rudd, Hill, and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright. ''There is a magic about that film that is indescribable,'' she says.

The Room has even infiltrated the halls of cinematic academia. ''It is one of the most important films of the past decade,'' says Ross Morin, an assistant professor of film studies at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. ''It exposes the fabricated nature of Hollywood. The Room is the Citizen Kane of bad movies.''

http://www.theroommovie.com/