Pro tip: I picked 'The Room' for my class movie day and the kids roasted me for a week

I showed The Room to my 8th graders last semester as a joke, thinking they'd get a kick out of how bad it is. Instead, they spent the next five days quoting "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!" at me in the hallways, and one kid even wrote a report on how Tommy Wiseau's green screen work is worse than a PowerPoint. It made me appreciate how a movie this broken can still bring people together, even if it's just to laugh at it. Has anyone else had a bad movie totally take over a group of people you didn't expect?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan_campbell18d ago

Has it ever surprised you how the worst things can sometimes be what brings people together the most? I've seen this with my buddies on the couch too, we'll put on some terrible B-movie just to make fun of it and next thing you know we're all quoting it for months... it's like the shared experience of something being so bad becomes a private joke nobody else gets. There's something about that mutual "can you believe this?" feeling that bonds people faster than any good movie ever could. It's almost like our brains remember the bad stuff more because we have to work harder to find the funny in it.

stella_baker18d ago

Three years ago my car broke down on a highway in the middle of nowhere and the tow truck driver who came was this grumpy old guy who barely talked. But by the time he dropped me at the shop we had bonded over how ridiculous the whole situation was, from the weird noise my engine made to the fact it started raining right when I got out. We ended up laughing about it and he even gave me his personal number in case I ever needed a ride again. I think he was just as surprised as I was that a flat tire and a dead battery turned into a genuine friendship. There is something about sharing a truly crummy experience that cuts through all the small talk and gets to the real stuff. I'd take a bad movie night with good people over a perfect one any day.