Sam Mraovich = The Gay Tommy Wiseau?
I have not seen this movie, but it sounds like an apt comparison given everyone's reviews (which are friggin' hilarious).
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MovieChat Forums > Ben & Arthur (2003) Discussion > Sam Mraovich = The Gay Tommy Wiseau?
Not a bad comparison, but where The Room is so bad, it's fascinating, Ben and Arthur is so bad, it's excruciating. By the 25 minute mark, I thought I'd been sitting there for over 2 hours.
shareYea, at least The Room was shot on film and the most salient elements of film making are all there. Wiseau lost it when it came to directing the performances and maintaining a plot which were all an absolute scream. Ben & Arthur is like someone from Venus crash landed, saw a soap opera through an Earthling's living room window and then stole a camera to imitate it. It's fascinating in how misconceived every single aspect of it is. I find it hilarious. "What if I quitted?" "YOU need pray for!" But I can understand why The Room has a much larger cult following; it's much easier to watch.
shareYou're not the first person to compare Wiseau and Mraovich, and from what I've seen, it's a pretty appropriate comparison.
And on a similar note, there's a Christian fundie named Greg Robbins who directed, wrote and co-starred in a movie called "C Me Dance," and the trailer for that movie looks hilariously awful. I think Greg Robbins might be the Christian equivalent of Wiseau and Mraovich.
Actually, since "The Room" was released AFTER "Ben & Arthur", it might be more accurate to say that Tommy Wisseau is the straight Sam Mraovich.
shareThe problem with the Tommy Wiseau comparison is that the room while reputedly an absurdly bad movie, at least attempted to be a movie (they used film, actual sets etc) while Ben and Arthur is just stripped down to the max to an outrageous degree (filmed in home video quality with a digital camera and do discernible other sound recording, a shot of a FedEx plane landing to show a character traveling by air, a cardboard cross as a prop for a church) its almost like Mraovich didn't even try to give it any quality whatsoever.
shareI can almost kind of admire how someone with access to a handicam can just go "let's make a movie, I guess..." And God bless 'em, the movie made it to Netflix and people are talking about it. Even though he goes "what if I quitted?" He says that in the movie, honest to God.
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