The Room Analysis: Part Eight

1:09:00-1:17:18

We’ll be doing things a bit differently for the rest of the week. Since there are only three more entries to go in this analysis, there will be an additional analysis posted tomorrow, as well as Friday. Right? Good. Let’s dive in.

The scene then fades to another view of the city skyline, before cutting to Lisa in her apartment. She’s just sweeping the floor when the doorbell rings, and she asks who’s there. The script tries to make Mark sound like a coy and playful fellow when he answers, “Deliveryman!” Lisa allows him in, and Mark asks if she’s ready. Lisa tries to make a suggestive pass at him, saying that she’s always ready for him. Mark meant for the party, and Lisa makes another pass by saying she just has to put on her party dress. At least it sounds like it’s supposed to be a pass. It’s hard to tell between the wrought iron acting and the script that I wouldn’t burn for fear of it poisoning the air with its foul essence.

Right. So, Mark is now actively seeking Lisa when she’s alone so that they can continue their affair. This makes no sense, as he was just trying to resist her before. And Lisa begins by trying to initiate another sex scene. Mercifully, they are interrupted by a loud knock on the door and quickly get dressed. But before Mark finishes getting his shirt on, Lisa calls whoever is there to enter. Maybe she’s trying to get caught? Maybe some part of her wants Johnny to find out? Whatever the reason, Michelle is the one who walks in (Remember her? Lisa’s best friend? Mike’s honey?), and she catches Mark as he puts his shirt back on. She has brought something that Lisa had sent her to collect (which we never actually see), and Michelle notices that Mark’s pants are still undone. Remember how before when he heard about Mike’s underwear problem, Mark asked, “Underwear? What’s that?” This comes with the implication that Michelle is seeing a little bit too much right at that moment. Mark quickly excuses himself, leaving the girls alone. People hurriedly excusing themselves also seems to be a recurring motif here.

Now that they’re alone, Michelle starts helping Lisa move the furniture around for some reason. Presumably for the upcoming birthday party that’s supposed to happen soon. Whatever the reason, it finally gives us a clear view of the TV, which we can now see is set upon what appears to be a pair of Corinthian columns. Not a table with legs that are styled to look like Corinthian columns. Just the columns themselves. Why? There’s not even a piece of plywood for the TV to sit on. You’d think somebody as rich and successful as Johnny would be able to afford an impressive entertainment set.

This time alone also allows for Michelle to ask Lisa about her affair with Mark and if she told Johnny yet. Lisa hasn’t and says that it’s because Mark is his best friend. Clearly, she still cares about Johnny, which contradicts everything she said about not loving or caring about him anymore. It seems that Lisa is also having doubts about Mark, saying that she loved Johnny first. And then she says that she wants them both. And if they can’t give her what she wants, someone else will.

Michelle points out that Lisa is beginning to sound like her mother, which is only partially true, since Claudette had implied that she only married for convenience. Lisa goes on this rant about how she needs to, ‘live, live, live,’ and how she has everything under control.

Michelle can only say, “Your point of view is so different from mine,” as if that has anything to do with what was just said.

Then Lisa says that she doesn’t want to talk about it. So then why did she rail on about how great her situation with Mark was? Once she stands up again, Lisa begins unpacking a bag of groceries that has apparently been there the whole time, because it’s not the bag that Michelle brought over. Nor did Mark arrive with any bags. Or perhaps he did, but we never see that, because his hand that was holding the bag was never onscreen. Even more oddly, Lisa doesn’t put any of the groceries in the kitchen (where groceries tend to be stored), and instead starts putting them on the coffee table. And the whole time, Lisa keeps on decreeing that she must look out for number one and that she deserves the best. This contradicts her concern for Johnny’s feelings only minutes ago. When Michelle disagrees, Lisa says that Michelle isn’t such an angel herself. Does this mean that Michelle is seeing other men? Because we haven’t seen her doing anything wrong at all. All she’s done is let Lisa confide in her about her affair.

The scene then ends with the girls having a very half-hearted pillow fight.

Cut to a scene of Johnny and Mark having a friendly race on a hiking trail. During their run, Mark is talking about the new place that he’s looking at. Remember when he blurted that out at a completely inappropriate time when we first met Peter? I guess it was followed up after all. And he’s asking Johnny about a loan, to which Johnny says he would qualify. This dialogue must have been written by somebody else, because even though they never actually go into the intricacies of getting a loan from a bank to pay off a house, it almost sounds convincing. This scene is another one that could have been cut without any consequence to the story, and it ends very abruptly, fading to a shot of Johnny and Mark returning home.

We then fade to a scene of Johnny leaving for work, presumably the next morning. He kisses Lisa goodbye, as if their relationship hadn’t been strained at all for the last week or so. It’s like he feels nothing and has ignored the plight he’s been going through like some kind of clueless buffoon. It would be more believable if he said goodbye and the two of them kept their distance from one another.

As it always seems to happen, they have a guest spontaneously arrive at the apartment. This time, it’s dear old mom, Claudette! After Johnny leaves, Claudette lets herself right in, and begins talking to her daughter. Lisa once again asserts that she doesn’t love Johnny and loves Mark, but Claudette is adamant that Lisa should marry Johnny. She also maintains her argument that the best reason to marry Johnny is that he’s financially stable. It seems that Lisa’s motives and attitudes change with every person she talks to. You might remember that previously, she was very concerned about Johnny’s feelings when she was talking to Michelle. I’ve used this joke before, but it applies here: how many personalities does Lisa have!?

Claudette then reveals what may be the reason for her views on romance. Apparently, she’s never had a relationship where she was happy, and that she didn’t even want to marry Lisa’s father. Something that comes as a real shock to Lisa. But Claudette’s not done yet. She turns out to be a complete misandrist who thinks men exist to be used and abused, and that marriage never has anything to do with love. Lisa proudly proclaims that she has Johnny completely under her control, meaning that she’s already taken her mother’s lessons to heart, but she still says that she doesn’t want to marry Johnny because she doesn’t love him. Trying to pick apart the psychology of Lisa’s cognition would require a degree that I can’t afford to get at the moment. It is then that Claudette tries to manipulate Lisa by telling her to listen to her mother. Lisa then dismisses Claudette from her home, and she continues to sweep. Gosh, Lisa sure seems occupied with sweeping.

Finally, we get back on track with the story. Nothing between the second sex scene and this current moment has had any bearing on the plot, so things are about to get hairy.

It’s dusk. Johnny is walking home from…somewhere. We’re not too sure where he’s coming from. But when he gets home, the lights are off. And when he turns them on, all of his friends jump out to initiate his surprise party. They then sing the entirety of ‘Happy Birthday,’ then we get an overly long shot of everyone greeting Johnny. This scene could have been shortened significantly to just Johnny’s surprised reaction of seeing all of his friends at his apartment. Supposedly, he has many friends around town, but none of them are seen at the party. Just the little core group that we’ve met multiple times, and a bunch of other people we’ve never seen before. Shame, because I would have liked to see the doggie from the flower shop again.

There you go. That’s the end of this segment

Now that the story is back on track, we get no more scenes that exist solely to show us how good Johnny is and how evil Lisa is. If one were to look at this through the lens of basic storytelling, it would be the classic story of good versus evil. The twist here is that evil is born from goodness. One could compare that to the story of Cain and Abel, but Cain’s evil deeds were brought about through envy. Although, one could say that Lisa suffers from envy by wishing that she had a more exciting boyfriend than Johnny. However, Mark appears to be just as vanilla as Johnny is, but we don’t know anything about his life outside of games with his friends and his affairs with Lisa, so her plan just kind of falls apart there.

If one were to scrutinize Lisa’s behavior and why she prefers Mark to Johnny, it could simply be for the thrill of doing something bad. There’s a special type of scumbag who gets a thrill out of participating in social taboos, which can range from adultery to murder. Lisa seems to only be initiating this affair for the sheer fun of it, which is in line with Peter’s idea that she is a sociopath. But since she doesn’t meet the required criteria for diagnosis, she can’t be called that.

Her interactions with Claudette seem to give some insight to her behavior, where a daughter will often choose a partner who reminds them of their father. If Claudette was so dissatisfied with her marriage to Lisa’s father, then Lisa would unconsciously imitate that behavior and choose a boring man like Johnny, who doesn’t fulfill what she wants from a relationship either. You see it all the time in real life, where a girl who grew up with an abusive father will marry a man who abuses her. It’s sad, but it’s not done on purpose. So we can say that Lisa may just be another victim in this whole farce.

Whew! That was a heavy one. I need to put some happy thoughts into my head this time, so I think tonight’s movie will be either ‘Titan AE’ or ‘Anastasia.’ I’m in a Don Bluth kind of mood.