The Room

After watching this, I looked at some of the reviews on here, and there's a common thread: the concept of this movie is excellent. The execution is where it stumbles. And I couldn't agree more. A young couple find a room in their new house that grants any wish for a material item. Want a million dollars? The Queen's jewels? A bottle of scotch? Boom, lights flicker, there it is. The movie doesn't bother explaining this, except some vague hints at a very weird electrical set-up, and that's good. The movie doesn't need the technobabble. The first third of the movie is them diving head first into hedonism. Money, jewelry, expensive clothing, priceless artifacts, they wish for everything. Quickly, they get bored, and start thinking about living their lives again, and what they want most is a baby, but they've had two miscarriages so far, and the wife is afraid to try again and go through a potential third lost baby. So, she takes the obvious shortcut, and this is where the conflict comes in. This is also where the catch to the wishes comes in: what is wished for can't leave the house, or it ages and withers into dust. It's a strong concept, and the movie does explore SOME of what would make such power dangerous. But it doesn't go far enough. The couple's descent into hedonism is, literally, done in a montage. There's no wrestling with the conundrum of having a bottomless well of power on which to draw creating an insatiable hunger for bigger desires. They mention quitting their jobs because of the wishes, but we don't see what happens to them when they discover the limitations of the room. The money is worthless since it can't leave the house, and they quit their jobs because of this, so how do they make the mortgage payment? Hell, do these people not have friends or family or new neighbors that might want to wish them happy housewarming with a cobbler or a casserole? The movie takes great pains to answer several logical questions one might have with this situation, but also exists in this bubble that makes no sense, But that's nothing compared to the issues arising from "plot won't happen unless character stupid". There are numerous moments when this movie cannot and would not move forward without one or the other not saying or doing what a normal human being would do or say in that situation. On top of that, this refusal to communicate not only facilitates the wishing, but the tension in the marriage that arises in their marriage, which does so on a dime. Moods and character motivations shift because the scene needs it to, not out of natural progression. This whole movie is fueled and facilitated by plot contrivance and character ignorance. I will say that the concept is interesting, and there's some moral issues around the child that are intriguing. The movie did keep my interest, mainly because I wanted to see if it could resolve itself and make good on its premise. Unfortunately, it never quite gets there.