Book Review: The Room: The Definitive Guide – Author Ryan Finnigan

My first reaction?

Wow….if there is a book solely dedicated to this crappy film toting it as cult phenomenon, then the film “must” be worth checking out. I admit it, I didn’t jump on the wagon when it arrived back in 2003. The movie, that is…had escaped my interest.

Since word of this press release, I took it upon myself to give the film my undivided attention. After all, I didn’t wanted to miss what others had raved about. Well let’s back up a bit. The film was well known for being weird and crappy. In fact it was so crappy that it seemed to invent new ways of being crappy as it played from start to finish. The crappiness and the weirdness evolved into what we might refer to as a “midnight movie” kind of experience. Roll forward to 2014 and a new book was announced dedicated to explaining the film and its absurdities. The name of the book? “The Room: The Definitive Guide” by author Ryan Finnigan. Needless to say after just finishing this quirky suck-ass movie…I was a fan.

A book read was in order to get caught up on what I had missed over the years in relation to its theatre setting experience. Great things come in small packages, I suppose.

Ok, first impression…great layout and design. This paper book is chock full of illustrations, chapters, notes, interviews, commentaries and information essential to relating to the mass interest this film has garnered. In fact, it also helps to answer a few of those questions you might drum up shortly after a viewing of The Room.

There is much here that is designed to educate newbies, not only to the film, but to attending a “The Room” events. Oh ya, it is quite the event much in the way any Rocky Horror Show might be. But rest assured, if you are facing such an event…then this book will give you the base ingredients to a successful experience.

While every section of this book proves to be entertaining, I enjoyed Alan Jones sections most of all. Alan provides an ongoing narrative of the film’s scenes in a play by play manner that is truly hilarious. Of course for this humor to really sink in…. you’ve had to have seen the scenes prior yourself. While there is a sarcastic comedic tone to his explanation of the films various moments, it also proved to be enlightening for readers who may have not caught every ridiculous situation. I was soon educated on how corny and displaced this film really is beyond the obvious firs impression.

The Room – The Definitive Experience is a hilarious book on its own. The humor here is fueled by the whacked out scenes that make up its progression of events. While “they” might do fine on their own accord, I especially liked the “voice” of this book pointing out the obvious and “not so obvious” portions.

This book, like the film itself is a “must see” (or must read if you may…). In fact, it might due well as a companion guide at screenings. Partially this due to educating those who don’t quite get it or haven’t really heard of or seen the film. I compare this to the film “Office space”. At the time many of my friends and coworkers “got it” and celebrated its scenes quite often. Though we knew full well there was just as many who hadn’t seen it. The book, “The Room: The Definitive Guide Paperback” more or less prepares you for what you’ve been missing. However, as indicated in the book..see the movie first! you wont understand its absurdity until a full viewing session has been in order. Then…you can safely dig into this book and discover what’s been going on behind the scenes for so many years.

Ryan Finnigan has done the film justice…indeed!