Yeah, that's right. I said comedy, and this isn't a review for the wrong film. Like most people, I went into ROOM 237 expecting a documentary on Kubrick's THE SHINING, containing various theories exploring the movie's subtext and the like. What I got was an increasingly deranged collection of ramblings and outlandish conspiracy theories from a team of crackpots and wackos.

Because ROOM 237 isn't about THE SHINING at all. Instead, it's a documentary about obsession, and how ANYTHING can be interpreted as ANYTHING given the right frame of mind. So in the course of this documentary we learn that Kubrick faked the Moon landings, that a poster of skier is in fact a minotaur, and plenty more besides.

It's all complete hogwash, of course. Yes, Kubrick added in subtle, almost subliminal things to mess with the viewer's mind; changing the carpet pattern or removing a sticker from a door. But he did that to further unsettle the viewer in what after all is a horror film. There's no more to it than that. However, the nonsense spouted in this film is actually very funny, hence my comment that this makes a great comedy indeed.

This starts with a rambling about how the cans of Calumet Baking Powder in the store room indicate something about the destruction of the environment and native people of America. And it goes on....

This is a movie about people who spend too much time examining every minutia of every frame of Stanley Kubrick's movie 'The Shining'. I can safely say that 75% of this movie is mind-numbingly unwatchable. There are some well worn observations of the overwhelming use of red. Then there is the constant examination of what would be goofs in other movie.

The fact is that Kubrick did a lot of inconsistency for the effect of disturbing the audience. The character in the movie is going crazy, and he's putting that process on the screen. So this deliberate inconsistency and the accidental goofs that is in every movie is driving these people to the brink of newspaper clipping conspiracy theories. In many cases, these theories really misses the point of the movie.

There are some fun insights like Kubrick deliberately giving the finger to Stephen King with the red Volkswagon crash. Who knows how true that part is, but it sounds really funny and cool.

In the end, this movie misses the elephant in the room. These are some very obsessed crazy people. Why not do a documentary about these people? What drives them to spend all this time and effort? What's missing in their lives?

I understand that some may think this is a joke, this is a documentary that makes fun of other documentaries and tries to be outrageous and funny. But I believe everyone talking here, means what they say. Some of the things are far out, some others may be in the realm of something that may be something Kubrick actually thought of.

Then again who really knows? And also everyone experiences a movie differently. So while one thinks this is about native americans, someone else thinks it's about Germans (or Nazis to be more specific). All that makes for an interesting viewing to say the least. If you let yourself get into it, the documentary is quite entertaining.

Just take it with a grain of salt and maybe it even helps with the upcoming Dr. Sleep movie ...