Author: Tommy Wiseau
Producer: Tommy Wiseau
Date viewed: 2/21/2014
Setting: San Fransisco
Period: Current
Genre: Drama
Plot: not good
Characters: not good
Dialogue: awful
Structure: awful
Commercial appeal:not good
Worth a watch just to say you have, so I half-heartedly recommend it
Logline: A man slowly falls into depression as it becomes clear his love and his best friend are having an affair behind his back.
Summary: Tommy is a hard working man named Johnny who dotes heavily on his girlfriend, Lisa. While to his face she reciprocates, behind his back Lisa cheats with his best friend, lies and tells basically the world she hates him. Lisa is not happy with her relationship with Johnny, even though he would do anything and everything for her. On a daily basis, he buys her gifts (such as flowers and a dress) and just is very loving (in his own, awkward way). On an overly consistent basis, she tries to explain to her mother that he is boring and she does not love him anymore. Her mother tries to talk her down, truly not understanding her daughters disgust in this man. In the meantime, she quite consistently has his best friend Mark over, whom she seduces (quite awkwardly I might add) and sleeps with him. The completely hilarious and poorly written part about this is while it happens pretty much every time they are together, he still seems confused as it is beginning. As before stated, she tries to be loving to his face, and once night gets him very drunk to help get his mind off of not getting a promotion at work. Next time her mother is over, she uses this story of his drinking and lies and tells her mother that he is abusive to her, which he shortly after hears about. After some time, he confronts her about her lies. I mean, there is obviously much talking this couple needs to do. This woman is just mean too, because in her boredom she decides to tell Johnny that she is pregnant, and later explains to her friends that she isn't and why she did it. Johnny starts putting two and two together that Lisa and Mark are having an affair, but plays it pretty cool. At a birthday party for him, he confronts them both and tells them that he knows, and the two men begin to fight each other. He tells everyone to leave and locks himself into their bedroom's bathroom. While he is in there, Lisa calls Mark and tries to set up another rendevous. Johnny comes out of the bathroom when she leaves and begins to have a mental breakdown. He tears up the entire house, and then he ultimately kills himself. Mark and Lisa find him dead by gunshot wound out the back of his head. Lisa tries to smooth things over, but both Mark and Denny (who enters later) both tell her off, so nobody wins.
It is very clear that our writer tried. It is just safe to say that he is a bit out of touch with reality. There are so many things wrong even just socially among the characters, the plot line, the delivery. It is just bad, and this is why! This movie has some of the worst acting I think I have ever seen. For starters, why are the guys always just awkwardly throwing a football around in several scenes, and I mean one scene they are doing it in tuxedos. Not all guys are obsessed with football, and the ones who are know that they are nowhere near being correct with any sort of football rule. The dialogue does not help much either. There are just very awkward conversations. For instance, Johnny asks Mark how his sex life is. I'm pretty sure men don't do that, but maybe I'm wrong. The flow of conversation is just incredibly forced at all times. When Johnny first reacts to hearing the lies of his "abuse", he is shouting and complaining, and the delivery of the line is just bizarre, and is met immediately by a calm awareness of Mark being on the roof top as well. The sequence in which Johnny confronts Lisa, he shouts "you are tearing me apart Lisa!", and not even a minute later (I think at least, but it's a very brief time) he tells her he still loves it and it's okay... He is very calmed down at this point. Lisa's mother, as Lisa explains that he hit her because he was drinking reacts with "Johnny doesn't drink". Ok, be that as is may, most mothers would at least react in disgust that someone hit their child, drunk or not. She, had she been written well, would have more than likely I felt like I was watching one of my old play performances where I was still finding my niche in acting, so everything seemed forced. While the plot could have passed as a garden variety drama, it's just so poorly written and structured. For instance, at the birthday party when Lisa sends everyone outside so that she can fool around with Mark... WHO RISKS CHEATING IN SUCH PROXIMITY TO THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHER! Cheating isn't good, but my gosh are you an idiot? It raises the question, did Tommy Wiseau date someone just awful like that and decide to make a movie about the way he didn't react to the situation? The characters are just awkward. I'm going to use Denny as an example. He is the neighbor kid, who is just bizarre. He follows the couple up to their bedroom because he wants to watch. He asks awkward questions like "can I kiss you" to Lisa. It's just really strange, and he serves no real purpose to the story. Lisa's mother is really unnecessary too. Aside from being Lisa's confident and Johnny's number one fan, she just doesn't really serve a purpose. Actually to be fair, only three people (Johnny, Mark and Lisa) really have any point, It could have been written just between the three of them. It's hilarious though. The settings are just faulty. There are several sequences on the roof of the apartment building, which is clearly a set and an obvious fake background. I'm pretty sure it's a green screen, because there is a fuzzy outline of the people every time they are up there. Johnny's meltdown before he kills himself is even weird. It is almost like watching a kid through a temper tantrum, minus 50% of the passion. Have I mentioned how awful Lisa is. She finds him dead with Mark, and immediately tries to say that they are free to be together... Like are you a heartless bitch? Sure you may have been bored and wanted to move on, but aren't you the least bit heart broken that someone you care even the slightest for died? Or just out of respect as a human, don't you think death is said? WHAT THE HELL?! In all honesty, the ending is very sad, but just overall it's a mess. So yes, ultimately the movie is supposed to be a drama, but it is so bad it proceeds to become funny as hell. Only watch it if you're going in knowing it's just awfully funny!
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