Showerthought: Is the 'so bad it's good' thing intentional or just happy accidents?

I was rewatching The Room last Tuesday at my buddy's place in Austin, and we got into this huge debate. Tommy Wiseau says he meant for it to be a serious drama, but literally every scene is a trainwreck - like that rooftop football toss that goes nowhere for 5 minutes. My friend thinks directors like Wiseau or the guy behind Birdemic knew exactly what they were doing and leaned into the badness for cult status. But I say no way, the charm comes from genuine failure, like when the green screen deer in Birdemic is just a clip art png. Which side do y'all lean on - intentional camp or sincere disaster? Has anyone here met a director who copped to faking the bad vibe?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth2203d ago

Three beers into Birdemic at 2 AM, I swear I saw that deer clip art wink at me. My money's on sincere disaster all the way, because no sane person would greenlight that slow motion eagle attack on purpose. Tommy Wiseau probably thinks The Room is a masterpiece, which is exactly why its so perfect. You cant fake that level of cluelessness, you just cant.

joseph5293d ago

Watched Birdemic with a film studies friend who insisted it was a deliberate parody. Made him sit through the entire scene where the protagonist watches a slideshow of his own photos for five minutes. By the time the cardboard birds started flapping, he was admitting there's no way anyone commits to that level of poor editing on purpose. The real tell is the sound mixing. When characters whisper in one scene and shout in the next with no pattern, that's not satire. That's a man who genuinely thought his movie would change cinema.