Here Are 4 Things You Must Do During a Screening of 'The Room'
'The Room' will hit theaters again for one night on January 10.
What a story, Mark! The Room, Tommy Wiseau’s famously heinous 2003 film, will be gracing theaters (again) for one night in the year of our Lord 2018, marking its first major “opening” in history. On January 10 at 8 p.m. local time, The Room will play at about 600 theaters across the U.S. But, in case you didn’t know, there are some important traditions to keep in mind when watching The Room. Here are a few of them you should know.
Much like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, fans of The Room have developed a certain kind of language over the years when watching the film together. At certain points during the film, you throw things into the air, scream, and generally try your hardest to interact with the crazy characters on screen.
These screenings that you’ll have the chance to interact with, the first since The Room’s failed two-theater opening in 2003, undoubtedly owe their existence to the success of James Franco’s The Disaster Artist, a very good movie about a very bad movie. The Disaster Artist, which won Franco Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday for his role as Wiseau, is the story of how Wiseau’s magnum opus came into being. The film weaves a tale of comical, horrifying hubris on Wiseau’s part and has managed to capture the hearts of critics and fans alike, even those with zero knowledge of The Room.
But for those of you who do want to enjoy The Room in all its original glory, here are a few tips for how to behave during a screening:
“Spoon!”
For some reason, a majority of the art hanging on walls and seen throughout the film feature spoons — like, the cutlery. It’s appropriate to throw a handful of plastic (not metal) spoons up in the air whenever you see some of these mysterious spoons and pronounce your love for them by yelling, “Spoons!” Let the cutlery fly.
“Meanwhile, in San Francisco… !”
In The Room, there are a lot of unnecessary establishing shots of San Francisco. Wiseau just wanted everyone to know where the story was taking place, obviously. But it’s best that you fill in the gaps for anyone who’s wondering where this wacky tale is going down by shouting, “Meanwhile, in San Francisco!” whenever there’s a new, sweeping shot of the city.
“Because you’re a woman!”
Casual misogyny runs rampant throughout The Room. In order to point out just how truly bad this misogyny was, fans started yelling “Because you’re a woman” are every line delivered by a woman, especially Lisa, the main female character and one part of the film’s love triangle. Feel free to yell it after any line a woman delivers, though, since that’s the tradition at this point.
Cancer jokes
The Room is famous for its non-sequiturs, but the most baffling of them all is probably the brief scene in which you find out Lisa’s mother has cancer; then you never hear about it again. You can shout “cancer” when Lisa’s mom talks about it, and people generally make other cancer jokes throughout the film.
There are quite a few other traditions, some of which vary by screening and depend on whether or not Wiseau is actually present. Some people wear ill-fitting tuxes and bad red dresses to screenings while others like to point out every single non-sequitur throughout the film. If you’re lost at your screening this week, just follow the lead of your fellow The Room fans; they’ll keep you on the right path.
