Director and enigmatic wraith-man Tommy Wiseau created "The Room" in 2003 with high ambitions: to make a movie that he would be recognized and remembered for. Boy howdy did he succeed.
For those who don't know, "The Room" is one of those so-bad-it's-good kind of movies. a film where everything meant to come off serious ends up reading hilarious instead. Becoming a cult classic in its own right, "The Room" has become something of a famous mystery to those who know about it. And to those who know about it, as "The Disaster Artist" ultimately asserts, "The Room" has become a wellspring of slap happy joy.
"The Disaster Artist," directed and starring none other than James Franco (as well as his brother Dave Franco), is a movie about the making of "The Room". Based on the autobiography of the same name by Greg Sestero (the actual costar of "The Room"), "The Disaster Artist" focuses on the ups and downs of the friendship between director Tommy Wiseau and Sestero, as the two move to L.A. together to pursue their showbiz dreams.
The star of the show here really is James Franco. Much of the appeal of the actual "The Room" comes from the performance that Tommy Wiseau brings, a performance that seems so ungodly awful that it comes off as some elaborate Andy Kaufman-esque routine like maybe it was something Tommy Wiseau was doing on purpose, to get one over on the audience. James Franco nails this role, apparently method acting on "The Disaster Artist's" set (and appearing on various talk shows) as Tommy Wiseau.
One doesn't think 'amazing actor' when hearing the name James Franco (or at least I certainly don't), but he proves everyone wrong with this movie. He not only gets down Tommy Wiseau accent and speech pattern, but also the way the guy moves, the sort of lazy eye that Tommy Wiseau has. And it all comes off genuine, too, both the performance and the movie itself- James Franco and "The Disaster Artist" as a whole are not making fun of Tommy Wiseau. They are celebrating the human enigma that the man is, and the actual mystery surrounding the guy (like how he sounds vaguely Eastern European but swears he comes from Louisiana, or his seemingly endless stream of money).
There's a lot of heart in both the Franco brothers' performances and the movie as a whole, which is actually a nice change of pace. I could see how some people might call this movie 'overly sentimental'- like how Tommy and Greg make an actual sincere pinkie promise to each other, to get famous and take on the world together, a moment done without a hint of cynicism to it, sentimental piano keys playing in the background and all.
It can be easy to make fun of something that's trying to be genuine and heartfelt like that, probably real life doesn't have a lot of heartfelt piano-in-the-background moments to it, but "The Disaster Artist" pulls it off. It tells a story that is both hilarious and emotional, that depicts an actual real-life artistic disaster without making fun of the disaster in question.
I would honestly say this movie is one that almost anyone could appreciate, whether they've seen "The Room" or not. Ultimately, it's not just an inside-joke fest for fans of "The Room", though those who are familiar with it I'm sure will be enthralled with it- it's a movie about the actual relationship between two people, one of whom is a rather difficult person to deal with, and whether that bond over time.
"The Disaster Artist" gets:
"Oh hi Mark"/10
