The Disaster Artist

First up, I haven't seen the Room (2003), but of course have heard a lot about it through the years, a friend of mine is a huge fan who takes part in fan screenings and carries bunch of footballs into them...

The Disaster Artist portrays Tommy Wiseau as a true enigma, which he no doubt is, he does things in his own "a bit" peculiar way. We also get to see a person with a big heart and a person in need for a true friend. There's some cheesiness towards the end of the film (not intentional, even if it's about making of the Room), but I enjoyed the movie a lot for it's heart and for the constant laughs it offers. James Franco is great as Tommy, it's so easy to ham this kind of an over the top transformation up, but that's not the case here. A really enjoyable flick.

Rating: 8/10

Struggling would-be actor Greg (Dave Franco) meets bizarre, mysterious Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in an acting class, and the two develop an awkward friendship. The eccentric Tommy offers to move to Los Angeles with Greg to kick start their careers, but once there they find little success. However, one day they decide that, if Hollywood won't work with them, they'll just make their own movie, which leads to the production of one of the worst movies of all time, The Room.

The Room slowly developed a cult following after it's very limited release in 2003. By the end of the decade, it had become a cult item on par with Rocky Horror Picture Show, with raucous midnight screenings and the audience reciting dialogue along with the film. The real Greg Sistero, friend and sometime roommate of Tommy Wiseau, wrote a book about the making of the movie, and this film is an adaptation of that book, so it's told from Greg's point of view. The real Wiseau is a very odd, almost cartoonish figure, and James Franco does a terrific job of portraying him, from his bizarre nightclub-vampire look to his indefinable accent. James' real-life brother Dave Franco plays Greg, and he's a bit weaker, but maybe so is Greg. The rest of the cast is rounded out by many familiar faces from the comedy world of the past decade and a half or so, with a few surprises (Is that Sharon Stone and Melanie Griffith?). I have grown to love The Room for the "hilariocity" it is, and thus my appreciation of this behind-the-scenes look at its making may be greater than those who have not or who fail to see that colossal failure's charm. I found this movie funny and endearing. One of that year's best and look ma, no CGI.

It's quite ironic that one of the movies most talked about in award season would be the story of the making of The Room, widely considered to be one of the worst films ever. I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed, but I've actually seen The Room. It's terrible, it really is, but it's also kind of... good, in a way. Some of the worst lines (Among them "I did not hit her," "You're tearing me apart, Lisa," and that weird chicken scene) are very quotable and super easy to mock, but there's an undeniable passion put into it. The Disaster Artist, on the other hand, is about the man behind the movie, the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau. James Franco's portrayal of Tommy is one of the best of the decade. The way he nails Tommy's quirks, unusual mannerisms, his odd way of speaking, and that distinctive hair he had going is astounding. I didn't see James Franco. I saw Tommy Wiseau playing himself, in a movie about himself. Tommy is an interesting character, in the movie and in real life, because despite living in the age of the Internet, very little is actually known about him. But despite being a complete stranger to the whole world, he goes and makes himself known, and follows his dream of making a movie. Even though he's sometimes hostile toward others, he has his dream and sets on it, and not giving up on making the movie. It made The Room seem like a movie within a movie, that this was the real deal. Aside from the performance, Greg is an interesting protagonist, and his relationship with Tommy is well developed. The story is balanced in a way where the audience sees the perspectives of both Tommy and Greg, and how the perceptions of The Room vary between them. It's a great movie about following your dreams, no matter the outcome. For fans of Tommy Wiseau and The Room, it's an absolute must watch.

The Disaster Artist (2017)

*** (out of 4)

Greg (Dave Franco) is a wannabe acting taking part in an acting course when he meets a bizarre man named Tommy (James Franco). Tommy talks the young man into moving to Los Angeles where the two can hopefully live their dreams of becoming actors but things don't work as planned so Tommy comes up with the idea of making his own movie.

James Franco produced, directed as stars as Tommy Wiseau and it's easy to see why he would be so involved with the film. I mean, THE ROOM is just one of those movies that once you see you can never forget it. There are great movies that you watch that you'll never forget but THE ROOM is something completely different. Some have called it one of the worst movies ever made but it is a cult item and it continues to live on whereas some of the "good" movies that were made at the same time have been forgotten.

THE DISASTER ARTIST is a rather interesting film on a number of levels. It does work as a documentary look at the making of the film as well as the relationship between Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau but at the same time you learn very little about the man behind the camera. This is actually joked about throughout this movie and to me the film worked best as an acting showcase for James Franco. There's no question that his performance is the reason to watch this movie as he goes all in as the bizarre Wiseau.

What I enjoyed most about the film is that Franco perfectly nails the speech of Wiseau but he also doesn't just mimic the real person but instead delivers a full and rich performance. The actor really is believable in the role and so much so that you can actually believe that you're watching the real Wiseau and not just an actor playing him. Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Jacki Weaver and Seth Rogen all turn in nice supporting performances but there's no doubt that it's Franco who steals the picture.

In all honesty, I'm not sure how much interest this film will have to people who aren't already familiar with THE ROOM. I'd personally recommend that you watch that film before getting into this one. For the most part I thought Franco, the director, did a good job at showing the craziness behind the scenes and how it all ended up on the screen. We might not learn a lot about the character but we at least get an idea of the madness that it took to create THE ROOM.

So yeah, The Room is pretty well-known by now, becoming just about the most popular 'so bad it's good' film of all time over the last six or seven years, as has the story behind it- as detailed in Greg Sestero's book, The Disaster Artist.

So being a fan of both, I had a good idea of what I was in for, approaching the James Franco directed The Disaster Artist, but I'm pleased to say the film ended up meeting my expectations and then some.

First things first: James Franco's performance in this is incredible. His accent and mannerisms are a spot-on imitation of Wiseau's, and he manages to make you feel sympathy towards the character too. It's one thing to so directly portray such a unique individual and make doing so incredibly funny, but it's another thing entirely to make him feel (almost) like a real person, and to make you genuinely care for him. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I truly think this performance is worth an Academy Award nomination (fingers crossed).

Everyone else was good too. Dave Franco had a less flashy role than his brother's, sure, playing Greg Sestero, but he did a good job as the more grounded, 'straight man' type character. And some of the casting was genius too- I could list almost everybody, but special mention should go to Josh Hutcherson, Zac Efron, and Jacki Weaver.

Also worth mentioning is how well the cast and crew recreated the look of the original The Room- the mannerisms of the actors, the set design, the lighting, the camera-work- it's all perfect. It makes the film an impressive technical achievement in many regards; not simply a funny film with inspired casting and good performances.

As for downsides? There aren't a whole bunch. Perhaps the most significant is that this may not have a great deal of appeal beyond those who've watched and loved The Room already. I'm sure it would still function as a good film, but it might lack something for those who aren't already indoctrinated into the cult of The Room. Other nitpicks I could think of may be that the film is fairly conventional in terms of plot- not a ton of surprises here (other than maybe a few cameos throughout). And it feels a tiny bit longer than just over 100 minutes- but again, that's a nitpick. I am more or less struggling to think of too much that I personally didn't like with this film.

So as a long time fan of The Room, this is about as good as I hoped it could be. I hope I'm wrong in my views that the audience for this will be limited, and that it does have appeal beyond hardcore fans of The Room. And hey, if there's enough buzz behind it to allow for James Franco to earn an Oscar nomination, then that would be fantastic.

And deserved (in my opinion).

This is one of the most pleasant surprises of the film year so far, and second only to Tim Burton's Ed Wood in the (admittedly probably non-existent) sub-genre of films about making terrible movies.

If you've ever watched The Room, or even just watched some of its scenes on Youtube, make sure you don't miss this one.