In this scene, Denny stops by to see if Johnny is home, but he isn’t.
That’s it.
I know it’s hard to handle a short and completely unnecessary scene after the most perfect short and completely unnecessary scene of all time, but let’s struggle through this minute of The Room (as you do any minute of The Room regardless…) and see if there is anything in this scene that adds anything to this movie.
We catch the trail end of Lisa ordering a pizza. The pizza is “half Canadian bacon with pineapple, half artichoke with pesto, and light on the cheese”, which is amazingly one of the least weird things about this scene because 1) I guess it is technically entirely possible to order that on a pizza, and 2) Denny returns.
As you knew.
Denny enters the apartment and asks Lisa what’s new. He does not close the door, possibly because 1) Denny has ESP and already knows that he’ll leave immediately because Tommy isn’t here, 2) he secretly hates Johnny and Lisa and is trying to let bugs into their apartment, or 3) he forgot what doors are. Pick your favorite, I guess. They all make equal sense.
Lisa tells Denny she’s really busy, although we’ve just seen that all she’s been up to is ordering a pizza. Maybe she has more things she was about to do before Denny arrived? Maybe – just like Denny and the door – Lisa has forgotten everything that is happening around her.
Denny says he just came by to talk to Johnny (about what? THE PLOT THICKENS. I GUESS.), but then immediately forgets this when he points out Lisa looks beautiful (drink) and asks if he can kiss her-WAIT WHAT
Who acts like this?! Who responds so nonchalantly to that?! Why is the artichoke-pineapple-pesto-Canadian bacon pizza the most normal thing about this scene?! In a weird way, you have to give serious props to Phillip Haldiman and Juliette Danielle for somehow acting as though this is a normal conversation two people would have. Look at Lisa’s genuine amusement! Look at Denny’s childish playfulness when he asks Lisa if he can kiss her! Don’t look at how he totally looks like he’s in his late-twenties, though. The illusion only goes so far.
Lisa tells him Johnny isn’t here, but should be back any minute, and Denny is welcome to wait for him. Denny decides not to, but asks Lisa to tell him he stopped by. He does not appear to do so out of embarrassment, however, because that would be too normal for these characters.
And that’s it. That is this entire scene for some reason, so now it’s time to play “What The Fuck Did That Scene Add to The Room?” Yay! Seriously, though, three things happened, and that’s with a rather generous definition of “things”.
- Lisa orders a pizza. Amazingly, this is the only thing that explicitly comes up again later. Subplots in The Room don’t stick around for long.
- Denny wants to talk to Johnny. Presumably he has some degree of interest in doing this all the time, as one of Johnny’s friends, but maybe he has something specific to talk to Johnny about? Denny has a shitton of one-scene subplots throughout the course of the movie, so we will actually never know.
- Denny comes on to Lisa sort of. This isn’t the first time Denny has sort of come on to Lisa (the first time, of course, when he suggested something somewhere between voyeurism and a threesome). Could there be something there?
Look, this is kind of the only visual during this entire scene.
Tagged: Greg Sestero, Humor, Juliette Danielle, movie, philip haldiman, the room, tommy wiseau
