20 Years Ago, ‘The Room’ Had Audiences Wilding Out Way More Than ‘A Minecraft Movie'

A Minecraft Movie has polarized critics and audiences, with the former hating it (or, at least, being mostly indifferent to it) and box office takings showing audiences engaging. Some of this may have to do with the audience participation going on in cinemas, but The Room, which premiered in 2003, did all this decades ago—and did it better. Tommy Wiseau's famously so-bad-it's-good movie had audiences throwing plastic spoons at the screen (photos of spoons inexplicably appear in picture frames throughout the film), anticipating characters' lines, or calling out plot inconsistencies. Here's why The Room remains the poster child of audience participation.