Normally it doesn't work because they end up trying too hard and it feels like it's not taking itself seriously (which can still be fine and works for parody movies like Scary Movie), but the Room feels like an honest attempt to make one of the greats that completely missed the (oh hi) mark. It's the combination of earnestness and awkwardness that makes it so entertaining to watch, like a car crash in slow motion.

If it weren't for seeing other works of his that also capture that same feeling (but it comes off a bit more forced... Can't remember the name but he plays a building manager and it's a series rather than a movie), I wouldn't even suspect that he did it on purpose and figured out how to bottle that lightning.