Best F(r)iends: Volume 1

Before watching the first film of the epic 2-part 'saga' that brought back Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau on screen for the first time since the beloved and maligned 'The Room', I was unsure if these films were going to follow in the same vein of 'so bad they're good' or maybe this time they know the films are bad? My question wasn't immediately answered upon watching the first entry as it starts off with a promising premise, a good tone/setting (or so I thought), and even a score that feels perfect for this reunion. As the film goes on and gets more absurd as the characters start to show their true motives, I couldn't help but think that one: this film is beyond stupid and convoluted, and two: that it's also effortlessly entertaining and something I may think about re-watching if it's ever on cable. Now, onto part 2...

5.7/10

Sooooo....let's just be honest. This is an average film. There are some cool ideas in this film and some good shots, but let's not fool ourselves. Anything Greg Sestero does will be compared to The Room, and so anything he does will be infinitely better. The case in point was Best F(r)iends. And honestly, I love this freaking title. It's low key kinda genius.

The story starts with Sestero being down on his luck as a homeless man in Los Angeles named Jon. A chance encounter with a strange man (expertly played by Tommy Wiseau) leads Jon into a strange underground of gold selling. You see, at least according to Sestero, there was a group of men that used a mortician to steal the old gold fillings of dead people. This happened during the recession of 2009 where gold skyrocketed in value. Anyway, Jon strikes a bizarre friendship with Harvey (Wiseau) as they start working together at the mortuary. Jon ultimately finds out Harvey has hundreds of teeth with gold fillings and talks Harvey into going into business with him, selling the gold on the black market and making some extra cash. All is going well until an obvious thing happens...a super hot girl gets between them.

We all know how this turns out. Harvey gets suspicious of the new girl Traci. You see Harvey is withholding some of the profits from Jon and Traci starts planting ideas in Jon's head that he is being cheated. It makes it even weirder that Harvey is hiding the excess funds in an ATM in his garage. So they hatch a plan to get rid of Harvey and it inexplicably works, making it look like Harvey committed suicide while the couple runs off with the ATM/safe.

The film is pretty basic in its make-up, but it is a fine showcase for Sestero. He has embraced his cult status as a D-list actor and while Best F(r)iends is not a masterpiece, it is also not a complete waste of time. I also liked the fact he specifically made the Harvey character a mirror of real life Wiseau, giving him a vehicle where he is not the butt of a joke but an actual participant in a film. I mean, this movie will be forgotten in the annals of history but if you like The Room and anything associated with it, then check this one out.

Best F(r)iends is an emotional roller coaster ride. The movie is packed to the brim with absurdity, dark humor, romance, love, betrayal. Everything required for an excellent film. Fans of The Room will not be disappointed. It does hold up as a legitimate film.

Right from the first scene I knew this would go down as an all-time classic. From the beautiful cinematography, to the fantastic acting, this film has best picture written all over it. I really believed that Tommy Wiseau was someone who worked with dead bodies, and it seems like he may have done some method acting for the part. Of course this is just speculation, but the fact is the chemistry between Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau was electric, truly reminiscent of their previous film. And the writing by Greg was excellent. I wouldn't be surprised if Tommy gave him some tips. To quote Johnny from Wiseau's previous film, The Room (2003), "Haha, what a story Mark." In conclusion, the results are in and this film definitely does not have breast cancer. 10/10

This film is nuts. It starts off slowly. Jon (played by Greg "O hai Mark" Sestero) is a drifter who stumbles upon Harvey (Tommy "I'm fed up with this wurld" Wiseau). Harvey gives him a job for a day. The next day Jon comes back to Harvey for a full-time job. Little does Harvey know that Jon is going to betray him by selling bags of Harvey's gold teeth. What a story Mark (I mean Jon).

I saw the UK premiere of the extended cut and the audience was going crazy. There were a few references to The Room and whenever they happened the audience applauded with frenzy. It's not The Room, and I'm not going to compare them as others will do this. I will say that if you want an entirely unique viewing experience which will make you laugh at the poor/legendary acting and scratch your head with bewilderment, this is the film.

Best Friends is very good, and it is very bad, so it's impossible to give it a legitimate score with the usual ranking system. As stupid as this sounds, it's true, so I'll be interested how critics approach Best Friends on it's release.

The 9/10 is for the experience I had while watching it. It really is awesome to see Tommy and Greg acting again opposite each other, so this should not be missed.