The Room Theory: Chris-R

[Nergol]

So, having just come back from my first time seeing The Room with a live audience, I've developed a new theory about The Room, and specifically, the Chris-R scene. Now, most people think that this scene simply comes out of nowhere, has nothing to do with anything, and then just disappears from the story as if it never happened. I have a new theory that makes the scene not only make sense, but also shows it as being necessary for the plot, and even mildly elegant. Bear with me.

The long and the short of it is that the Chris-R scene introduces a plot device called a "Chekhov's gun". And basically it worked like this:

So Johnny and Mark overpower Chris-R, take his gun away from him, and haul him downstairs. Up on the roof, Denny tells Lisa and Claudette that Chris-R is "going to jail", but he is mistaken. Johnny and Mark, you see, are more level-headed then Denny, and realize that they couldn't possibly turn Chris-R over to the police without implicating Denny in drug dealing. So they simply throw Chris-R out on the street and tell him never to come back. Of course, they can't give him back his gun at that point, so Johnny puts it in a box on his shelf for the moment, and he and Mark return to the roof to check on Denny. It is perfectly plausible that all of this could have happened in just about the amount of time we see on screen if it's only a 2-3 story building.

Now, what is Johnny to do with Chris-R's gun? Obviously, returning it to its owner is unthinkable. So is turning it over to the Police, because questions about where it came from would lead right back to Denny and the drugs. And then, of course, there's the matter of Chris-R himself, who is still on the loose and may just decide to make a return appearance for his money and some revenge. If he does, Johnny having that gun around to protect himself and his future wife may just be a very important thing. So Johnny decides to keep the gun in the box for a while.

It is, of course, this very box that he knocks off the shelf in his final rampage, and Chris-R's gun with which he shoots himself at the end.

What does this all do for the plot? Well, among other things, it explains how and why the normally peaceful and law-abiding Johnny ended up with a handgun in his apartment. It allows Tommy Wiseau, as a writer/director, to use the time-honored Chekhov-R's gun plot device. And it even provides a bit of genuine dark irony to the situation - it was Johnny's selflessness not only in saving Denny from Chris-R, but also in not reporting the whole incident to the police in order to save Denny from trouble with the law, that led to the gun being in his bedroom at just the one moment when he was hopeless enough to use it on himself.

So you see? The Chris-R scene actually makes perfect sense. Well, that's my theory, anyway.

[doggans]

I'm in the middle of attempting to construct an elaborate collection of theories explaining everything that happens in the film (Insane? You bet your ass I am!), and this is more or less the way I'm interpreting the Chris-R scene.

[PsychoGoatee]

Nicely done, interesting stuff. True story, when I clicked on the Chekov's gun link I thought it would be a trope involving that dude from Star Trek!

[Rattrap007]

Great theory... but the problem is Tommy Wiseau is the writer.. I doubt he is intelligent enough to think this far ahead with plot and reason..

[Thrifty]

These posts remind me of the traumatic response some rape victims go through, rationalizing why the rape happened and convincing themselves that they deserved it.

[Rattrap007]

So wiseau raped us? I feel even dirtier now..

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

As Dr. Frank N. Furter put it, "A mental mind fuck".

I've always assumed that the gun Johnny used to end our pain was Chris-R's.

I'm still trying to figure out...

• How they found a cop so fast
• How they convinced said cop that Chris-R was arrestable so fast...and that he was threatening anybody without handing over the weapon
• How Johnny did all of this AND went to the apartment and put the gun away and still get back to the roof at the same time that Mark did - unless Mark went with him to the bedroom?

But then I'm still trying to figure out how many days this movie spans and why Johnny sat there on the stairs as Lisa and Claudette talked about Lisa not loving him anymore and having slept with another man and yet he only seems to hear what they've said about him not getting the friend the house loan?

I mean, other than the fact that if he faces the truth then we have no third act.

[Nergol]

   

* How they found a cop so fast
    * How they convinced said cop that Chris-R was arrestable so fast...and that he was threatening anybody without handing over the weapon

Precisely my point is that they didn't. Chris-R didn't get arrested. They just threw him out.

   

* How Johnny did all of this AND went to the apartment and put the gun away and still get back to the roof at the same time that Mark did - unless Mark went with him to the bedroom?

Maybe he did.

[Thrifty]

So wiseau raped us? I feel even dirtier now..

Metaphorically.  But this will make it all better.

Spoiler

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

*clicks spoiler*

Ah! You are tearing me apart, Lord Thrifty! DX

[Thrifty]

*clicks spoiler*

Ah! You are tearing me apart, Lord Thrifty! DX

I vacillated on whether to spoiler that or not.  In the end I decided not spoilering it would be going too far.

[Bob]

What happened to Chris-R is why you should ALWAYS carry a back up gun.   

And what do you know, the restrictive California guns laws did not stop a criminal from getting his hands on a gun.......