The Room

The Room is a 2003 American independent romantic drama and black comedy film written, directed, produced, and starring Tommy Wiseau. The film also stars Juliette Danielle and Greg Sestero. Set in San Francisco, the film is centered around a melodramatic love triangle between amiable banker Johnny (Wiseau), his deceptive fiancée Lisa (Danielle), and his conflicted best friend Mark (Sestero). The work was reportedly intended to be semi-autobiographical. According to Wiseau, the title alludes to the potential of a room to be the site of both good and bad events. The stage play from which the film is derived was so named due to its events taking place entirely in a single room. A number of publications have labeled The Room as one of the worst films ever made, one even describing it as "the Citizen Kane of bad movies". Originally shown only in a limited release in California, The Room quickly became a cult film due to its bizarre and unconventional storytelling, technical and narrative issues, and Wiseau's performance. Although Wiseau has retrospectively described the film as a black comedy, audiences have generally viewed it as a poorly made drama, an opinion shared by some of the cast. Although the film was a box-office bomb, home-media sales and notoriety following its initial release significantly increased its public profile. The Disaster Artist, Sestero's memoir of the making of The Room, was co-written with Tom Bissell and published in 2013. A film of the same title based on the book, directed by and starring James Franco, was released in 2017; the book and film received widespread acclaim and numerous award nominations. A remake of The Room starring Bob Odenkirk was released in 2025; it was initially planned to be released in 2023, which would have coincided with the twentieth anniversary of The...