There have been plenty of films that have fallen into the ‘so bad, it’s good’ category, a term used to describe a film that many consider to be entertaining to watch while still acknowledging that it’s not that great of a film. And in 2003, one film ended up becoming arguably the most famous ‘so bad, it’s good’ film of all-time; I’m referring, of course, to The Room, a passion project from writer/director Tommy Wiseau who also starred in the film as the main protagonist Johnny. Upon its initial release, the film was brutally savaged by critics for its incoherent narrative and stilted acting, especially from Wiseau himself. However, in the years since, the film has gained a massive cult following because of all of its strange gaffes. This has mainly been thanks to its numerous midnight screenings in which audiences interact with it a la Rocky Horror Picture Show. But for the uninitiated, one question remains; how exactly did a film like this get made? Well, now we’re getting a firsthand look into all this madness with The Disaster Artist. The film is based primarily off the 2013 autobiography of the same name from Wiseau’s co-star/friend Greg Sestero, as we get to see how these two ended up forming one hell of a bizarre friendship that would end up spawning the film that would define both of their careers. As for the film itself, James Franco directs this look back into the production of the so-called ‘worst film ever made’ while also starring in it as the man, myth, and legend that is Tommy Wiseau alongside his brother Dave in the role of Sestero. What follows is an entertaining and all-around earnest tribute to one of the most notorious films that have ever been made.
In 1998, actor Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) dreams of making it big in Hollywood despite his often failed attempts at landing any major acting gigs. His life soon begins to change, however, when he meets a mysterious man named Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) at an acting class in San Francisco. Despite Greg learning little about Tommy’s background, the two of them begin to connect over their shared dreams of stardom to the point where Greg even moves in with Tommy at his apartment in Los Angeles. However, over the next few years, the two continue to struggle when it comes to finding any work. In response to this, Tommy suggests that they make their own film, an idea which culminates in him writing a screenplay for The Room. In light of several folks in the industry believing that he’s better-suited for villain roles, Tommy casts himself as the main protagonist Johnny. He then proceeds to offer the role of Mark, Johnny’s best friend, to Greg as the two begin to prepare to shoot the film that they hope will be the one to effectively launch their careers. However, as Greg and the rest of the cast and crew of The Room soon find out, Tommy proves to be an extremely abrasive director on set while also making an endless array of questionable filmmaking decisions. And as we all know, this ultimately resulted in a film that, whether they liked it or not, truly did go on to define all of their careers.
At the risk of making a comparison that I know several people have made already, The Disaster Artist is quite similar to Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic Ed Wood. Both films tell the stories of filmmakers who were responsible for what many consider to be some of the worst films ever made. And yet, despite this, they don’t outright demonize their main subject; instead, they celebrate their passion for filmmaking regardless of the quality of the films that they produced. Now, to be clear, this film fully acknowledges how bizarre of a person Tommy Wiseau is. For a film that is quite consistent with its humor, Wiseau’s eccentric lifestyle is where a lot of the film’s best humor comes from. Still, despite both this and the instances where we witness Tommy’s often callous on-set behavior, there are moments in the film where you do genuinely sympathize with him. To his credit, he did manage to get this film made against all odds and away from the studio system (even though it’s still unclear as to how the heck he managed to amass a $6 million budget for the production). Now, granted, I haven’t read The Disaster Artist prior to seeing this film; and from what I’ve heard from those who have read it, the film sort of glosses over some aspects of the production (e.g. some of the more extreme instances of Wiseau’s tyrannical on-set behavior). Still, despite the lack of certain moments from the book, the film still succeeds at being a heartfelt look into everything that went down during The Room’s production. And while it’s not a major focus of this film, the re-creations of classic moments from The Room (e.g. “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!”) are damn near shot-for-shot.
The Disaster Artist is notably the first instance in which brothers James and Dave Franco have appeared together in a film, and the two do work well together on-screen as they very much succeed in capturing the strange but genuinely loyal friendship that Wiseau and Sestero have. As the film’s director, James Franco does a nice job of maintaining a solid tone throughout that perfectly mixes the film’s humorous moments with its more serious ones. And in the role of Tommy Wiseau, he does a fantastic job of conveying all of Wiseau’s odd behavioral traits; his laugh, his strange accent, etc. Meanwhile, Dave Franco also shines in the role of Greg, who serves as the audience avatar (the film is based on Sestero’s autobiography, after all) while also proving to be quite sympathetic when it comes to his own aspirations as an actor. And as we see in the film, these aspirations of his often affected his friendship with Tommy. Closing out the film’s lead trio is Seth Rogen as Sandy Schklair, the script supervisor (and alleged ‘real director’, but that’s another story…) of The Room. While Greg does often serve as the ‘straight man’ to Tommy’s shenanigans, Schklair serves that purpose in an even greater capacity during the production of The Room, where it’s clear that he was one of the more sensible crew members on set. In other words, this film gives Rogen one of the best ‘straight man’ roles of his career, which he handles excellently.
Now I’ll admit that when it comes to The Room, I wouldn’t really consider myself as being part of its cult fan base. To be clear, prior to seeing this film, I was well-aware of The Room and its wide array of oddities thanks to Doug Walker AKA the Nostalgia Critic’s famous review of it back in 2010. However, it wasn’t until recently when I finally saw the film for myself; and yes, the film is a comedic gold mine despite being such an incoherent mess. But the cool thing about The Disaster Artist is that even if you’re not too familiar with The Room, it’s still a highly appealing film that honors the cult following of its subject matter without relying solely on in-jokes that only fans of the film will recognize. At its core, the film is a heartfelt look into one filmmaker’s struggle to make it big in the film industry, and while it certainly addresses the fact that this filmmaker is a strange person who acted in an extremely oppressive manner during his film’s production, it doesn’t paint him in an entirely negative light. A lot of this is thanks to the strong direction from James Franco, who also does a fantastic job in the role of Tommy Wiseau alongside his brother Dave as Greg Sestero. In short, as noted in this film’s epilogue, when The Room was first released in 2003, Tommy Wiseau paid to have the film stay in theaters for at least two weeks so that it could qualify for that year’s Oscars ceremony. Obviously, it never even came close to that distinction, but now it may finally become a part of Oscars history thanks to The Disaster Artist, a film that many are touting as one of the best films of the year.
Rating: 4.5/5
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