Tonight’s the Night: Your Chance to See ‘The Room’

In 2009, I wrote about “The Room” for seattlepi.com, wondering when “the worst movie ever made” would get a screening in the Seattle market.

I can stop wondering. The movie that inspired “The Disaster Artist,” for which James Franco won a Golden Globe Award Sunday as best actor in a musical or comedy, opens nationwide Wednesday night in 500 theaters, including more than a dozen in the Puget Sound region.

In Seattle, 8 p.m. screenings are scheduled at Thornton Place and Pacific Place. Lincoln Square Cinemas in Bellevue also has an 8 o’clock showing.

Widely mocked for bad acting and dreadful production values, “The Room” has enjoyed a cult following since its release in 2003. By 2009, it was being described as a “black comedy,” though it really looks like a clumsy attempt at drama with no comedic aspirations.

“But audiences laughed,” I wrote in 2009. “They laughed at the script, at the acting, at characters who appeared with no expository introduction. Some scenes are blurry. Some of the looping doesn’t match the characters’ lip movements. Some Foley effects are completely inappropriate.”

The film’s creator and star, Tommy Wiseau, embraced the ridicule, telling me: “I always say you can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourself, but please don’t hurt each other.”

Wiseau also said, “I want everyone to see ‘The Room.’” Tonight, he gets a little closer to that goal.